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NARRATIVE 



YO YAGE 



THE NORTHWEST COAST OF AltlERICA 



IN THE YEARS 1811, 1612, 1813, AND 1614 



FIRST AMERICAN SETTLEMENT ON THE PACIFIC 



By GABRIEL FRANCHERE 



TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY J. V. HUNTINGTON 




RED FIELD 

110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW VORK 

1854, 



,\/..i 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, 

By J. S. REDFIELD, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and 
for the Southern District of New Yorlc. 






< 



STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE, 

13 Chambera Street, N. Y. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



In 1846, when the boundary question (that of 
the Oregon Territory in particular) was at its 
height, the Hon. Thomas H. Benton delivered 
in the United States Senate a decisive speech, 
of which the following is an extract : — 

"Now for the proof of all I have said. I 
happen to have in my possession the book of all 
others, which gives the fullest and most authentic 
details on all the points I have mentioned — a 
book written at a time, and under circumstances, 
when the author (himself a British subject and 
familiar on the Columbia) had no more idea that 
the British would lay claim to tliat river, than 



4 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

Mr. Harmon, the American writer whom I quoted, 
ever thought of our claiming New Caledonia. It 
is the work of Mr. Franchere, a gentleman of 
Montreal, with whom I have the pleasure to be 
personally acquainted, and one of those employed 
by Mr. Astor in founding his colony. He was 
at the founding of Astoria, at its sale to the 
Northwest Company, saw the place seized as a 
British conquest, and continued thx^re after its 
seizure. He wrote in French: his work has 
not been done into English, though it well de- 
serves it ; and I read from the French text. He 
gives a brief and true account of the discovery 
of the Columbia." 

I felt justly proud of this notice of my mipre- 
tending work, especially that the latter should 
have contributed, as it did, to the amicable set- 
tlement of the then pending difficulties. I have 
flattered myself ever since, that it belonged to 
the historical literature of the great country, 
which by adoption has become mine. 

The re-perusal of " Astoria" by Washington 
Irving (1836) inspired me with an additional 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 5 

motive for giving my book in an English dress. 
Without disparagement to Mr. Irving's literary 
fame, I may venture to say that I found in his 
work inaccuracies, misstatements (unintentional 
of course), and a want of chronological order, 
which struck forcibly one so familiar with the 

events themselves. I thought I could show 

or rather that my simple narration, of itself, 
plainly discovered — that some of the young men 
embarked in that expedition (which founded our 
Pacific empire), did not merit the ridicule and 
contempt which Captain Thorn attempted to 
throw upon them, and which perhaps, through 
the genius of Mr. Irving, might otherwise re- 
main as a lasting stigma on their characters. 

But the consideration which, before all others, 
prompts me to offer tliis narrative to the Amer- 
ican reading public, is my desire to place before 
them, therein, a simple and connected account 
(which at this time ought to be interesting), of 
the early settlement of the Oregon Territory by 
one of our adopted citizens, the enterprising 
merchant John Jacob Astor. The importance 



6 PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

of a vast territory, ■which at no distant day 
may add two more bright stars to our national 
banner, is a guarantee that my humble efifort 
will be appreciated. 



NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 

It has been the editor's wish to let Mr. Fran- 
chere speak for himself. To preserve in the 
translation the Defoe-like simplicity of the ori- 
ginal narrative of the young Freciih Canadian, 
has been his chief care. Having read many nar- 
ratives of travel and adventure in our northwest- 
ern wilderness, he may be permitted to say that 
he has met with none that gives a more vivid 
and picturesque description of it, or in which the 
personal adventures of the narrator, and the 
varying fortunes of a great enterprise, mingle 
more happily, and one may say, more dramati- 
cally, with the itinerary. The clerkly minute- 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 7 

ness of the details is not mthout its charm 
either, and their fidelity speaks for itself. Take 
it altogether, it must be regarded as a fragment 
of our colonial history saved from oblivion ; it 
fills up a vacuity which Mr. Ieving's classic 
work does not quite supply; it is, in fact, the 
only account by an eye-witness and a participa- 
tor in the enterprise, of the first attempt to form 
a settlement on the Pacific under the stars and 
stripes. 

The editor has thought it would be interesting 
to add Mr. Franchere's Preface to the original 
French edition, which will be found on the next 
page. 

Baltimore, February 6, 1854. 



PREFACE TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 



When I was writing my journal on the vessel 
which carried me to the northwest coast of 
North America, or in the wild regions of this 
continent, I was far from thinking that it would 
be placed one day before the public eye. I had 
no other end in writing, but to procure to my 
family and my friends a more exact and more 
connected detail of what I had seen or learned 
in the course of my travels, than it would have 
been possible for me to give them in a viva voce 
narration. Since my return to my native city, 
my manuscript has passed into various hands 
and has been read by different persons : several 
of my friends immediately ad\*ised me to print 
it ; but it is only quite lately that I have allowed 



10 PREFACE TO THE FREXCH EDITIOX. 

myself to be persuaded, tliat without being a 
learned naturalist, a skilful geographer, or a pro- 
found moralist, a traveller may yet interest by 
the faithful and succinct account of the situations 
in which he has found himself, the adventures 
which have happened to him, and the incidents 
of which he has been a witness ; that if a simple 
ingenuous narrative, stripped of the merit of 
science and the graces of diction, must needs be 
less enjoyed by the man of letters or by the sa- 
vant, it would have, in compensation, the advan- 
tage of being at the level of a greater number of 
readers ; in fine, that the desire of affording an 
entertainment to his countrymen, according to 
his capacity, and without any mixture of the 
author's vanity or of pecuniary interest, would 
be a well-founded title to thcii' indulgence. 
Whether I have done well or ill in yielding to 
these suggestions, which I am bound to regard 
as those of friendship, or of good-will, it belongs 
to the impartial and disinterested reader to 
decide. 

Montreal, 1819. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure from Montreal. — Airival in New York. — Descrii> 
tion of that City. — Names of the Persons engaged in the 
Expedition page 23 

CHAPTER n. 

Departure from New York. — Reflections of the Author. — 
Navigation, falling in with other Ships, and various Inci- 
dents, till the Vessel comes in Sight of the Falkland Isles. 32 

CHAPTER III. 

An-ival at the Falkland Isles. — Landing. — Perilous Situa- 
tion of the Author and some of his Companions. — Portrait 
of Captain Thorn. — Cape Horn. — Navigation to the Sand- 
wich Islands 43 

CHAPTER IV. 

Accident. — View of the Coast. — Attempted Visit of the Na- 
tives. — Their Industry. — Bay of Karaka-koua. — Landing 
on the Island. — John Young, Governor of Owahee. . . 53 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Bay of Ohetity. — Tamehameha, King of the Island. — His 
Visit to the Ship. — Hia Capital. — His Naval Force. — His 
Authority. — Productions of the Country. — Manners and 
Customs. — Reflections 62 

CHAPTER VI. 

Departure from Wahoo. — Storm. — Arrival at the Mouth of 
the Columbia. — Reckless Order of the Captain. — Diffi- 
culty of the Entrance. — Perilous Situation of the Ship.— 
Unhappy Fate of a Part of the Crew and People of the 
Expedition 81 

CHAPTER VII. 

Rt^gTCts of the Author at the Loss of his Companions. — Ob- 
sequies of a Sandwich-Islander. — First Steps in the For- 
mation of the intended Establishment. — New Alami. — 
Encampment 94 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Voyage u^. the River. — Description of the Country. — Meet- 
ing with strange Indians 104 

CHAPTER IX. 

Departure of the Tonquiu. — Indian Messengers. — Project 
of an Expedition to the Interior. — Arrival of Mr. Daniel 
Thompson. — Departure of the Expedition. — Designs upon 
us by the Natives. — Rumors of the Destruction of the Ton- 
quin. — Scarcity of Provisions. — Narrative of a strange In- 
dian. — Duplicity and Cunning of Comcomly 116 

CHAPTER X. 

Occupation at Astoria. — Return of a Portion of the Men of 
the Expedition to the Interior. — New Expedition. — Ex- 
cureion in Search of three Deserters 129 



CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER XL 

Departure of Mr. R. Stuart for the Interior. — Occupations at 
Astoria. — Arrival of Messrs. Donald M'Kenzie and Robert 
M'Lellan. — Account of their Journey. — Arrival of Mr. 
Wilson P. Hunt 142 

CHAPTER XII. 

An-ival of the Ship Beaver. — Unexpected Return of Messrs. 
D. Stuart, R. Stuart, M'Lelland, &c. — Cause of that Re- 
turn. — Ship discharging. — Nev^^ Expeditions. — Hostile 
Attitude of the Natives. — Departure of the Beaver. — 
Journeys of the Author. — His Occupations at the Estab- 
lishment 154 

CHAPTER Xm. 

Uneasiness respecting- the "Beaver." — News of the Decla- 
ration of War between Great Britain and the United States. 
— Consequences of that Intelligence. — Different Occur- 
rences. — Arrival of two Canoes of the Northwest Com- 
pany. — Preparations for abandoning the Countrj'. — Post- 
ponement of Departure. — Arrangement with Mr. J. G. 
M'Tavish 165 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Aixival of the Ship "Albatross." — Reasons for the Non-Ap- 
pearance of the Beaver at Astoria. — Fruitless Attempt of 
Captain Smith on a Former Occasion. — Astonishment and 
Regret of Mr. Hunt at the Resolution of the Partners. — 
His Departure. — Narrative of the Destruction of the Ton- 
quin. — Causes of that Disaster. — Reflections 173 

CHAPTER XV. 

Arrival of a Number of Canoes of the Northwest Company. 
•^Sale of the Establishment at Astoria to that Company. 



14 CONTENTS. 

— Canadian News.— Arrival of the British Sloop-of-War 
" Raccoon." — Accident on Board that Vessel. — The Cap- 
tain takes Formal Possession of Astoria. — Surprise and 
Discontent of the Officers and Crew. — Departure of the 
" Raccoon" 190 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Expeditions to the Interior. — Return of Messrs. John Stuart 
and D. M'Kenzie. — Theft committed by the Natives. — 
War Party against the Tliicves 205 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Description of Tongue Point. — A Trip to the Willamet. — 
Arrival of W. Hunt in the Brig Pedlar. — Narrative of the 
Loss of the Ship Lark. — Preparations for crossing the 
Continent , ooq 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Situation of the Columbia River. — Quahties of its Soil. — 
Climate, &c. — Vegetable and Animal Productions of the 
Countiy 229 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Manners, Customs, Occupations, &c., of the Natives on the 
River Columbia 240 

CHAPTER XX. 

Manners and Customs of the Natives continued. — Their 
Wars. — Their Maniages. — Medicine Men. — 'Funeral Cer- 
emonies. — Religious Notions. — Language 250 

CHAPTER XXL 
Departure from Astoria or Fort George. — Accident. — Pas- 
sage of the Dalles or Narrows. — Great Columbian Desert. 



CONTENTS. .15 

— Aspect of the Countiy. — Wallawalla and Slia-aptin Riv- 
ers. — Rattlesnakes. — Some Details regarding the Natives 
of the Upper Cohimbia . . . . 263 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Meeting with the Widow of a Hunter. — Her Narrative. — 
ifeflections of the Author. — Priest's Rapid. — River Oken- 
akan. — Kettle Falls. — Pine Moss. — Scarcity of Food. — 
Rivers, Lakes, &c. — Accident. — A Rencontre. — First 
View of the Rocky Mountains 273 

CHAPTER XXm. 

Course of the Columbian River. — Canoe River. — Foot- 
march towai'd the Rocky Mountains. — Passage of the 
Mountains 286 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Arrival at the Fort of the Mountains. — Descrijition of this 
Post. — Some Details in Regard to the Rocky Mountains. 

— Mountain Sheep, &c. — Continuation of the Journey. — 
Unhappy Accident. — Reflections. — News from Canada. — 
Hunter's Lodge. — Pembina and Red Deer Rivers . . . 297 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Red Deer Lake. — Antoine Dejarlais. — Beaver River. — N. 
Nadeau. — Moose River. — Bridge Lake. — Saskatchawine 
River. — Fort Vermilion. — Mr. Hallet. — Trading-Houses. 

— Beautiful Country. — Reflections 311 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Fort Mont^e. — Cumberland House. — Lake Bourbon. — 
Great Winipeg Rapids. — Lake V/inipeg. — Trading-House. 
—Lake of the Woods. — Rainy Lake House, &c. . . . 325 



16 CONTENTS. ^ 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Arrival at Fort William.*^ Description of that Post. — News 
from the River Columbia 337 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Departure from Fort William. — Navigation on Lake Superior, 
— Michipicoton Bay. — Meeting a Canoe. — Balchawainon 
Bay. — Arrival at Saut Ste. Marie. — Occurrences there. — 
Departure.— Lake Huron. — French River. — Lake Nipis- 
Bing. — Ottawa River. — Kettle Falls. — Rideau River. — 
Long-Saut. — Arrival in Montreal. — Conclusion .... 347 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Present State of the Countries visited by the Author. — Cor- 
rection of Mr. Living's Statements respecting St. Louis . 359 

APPENDIX, 

Mr. Seton's Adventures. — Survivors of the Expedition in 
1854. — Author's Protest against some Expressions in Mr. 
Irving's "Astoria." — Editor's Note 367 



INTRODUCTION. 



Since the independence of the United States 
of America, the merchants of that industrious 
and enterprising nation have carried on an ex- 
tremely advantageous commerce on the north- 
west coast of this continent. In the course of 
their voyages they have made a great number 
of discoveries which they have not thought 
proper to make public ; no doubt to avoid com- 
petition in a lucrative business. 

In 1792, Captain Gray, commanding tho ship 
Columbia of Boston, discovered in latitude 46° 
19'' north, the entrance of a great bay on the 
Pacific coast. He sailed into it, and having per- 
ceived that it was the outlet or estuary of a large 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

river, by the fresh water which he found at a 
little distance from the entrance, he continued 
his course upward some eighteen miles, and 
dropped anchor on the left bank, at the opening 
of a deep bay. There he made a map or rough 
sketch of what he had seen of this river (accom- 
panied by a written description of the soundings, 
bearings, &c.) ; and having finished his traffic 
with the natives (the object of his voyage to 
these parts), he put out to sea, and soon after 
fell in with Captain Vancouver, who was cruis- 
ing by order of the British government, to seek 
new discoveries. Mr. Gray acquainted him with 
the one he had just made, and even gave him a 
copy of the chart he had drawn up. Vancou- 
ver, who had just driven off a colony of Span- 
iards established on the coast, under the com- 
mand of Seiior Quadra (England and Spain 
being then at war), despatched his first-lieuten- 
ant Broughton, who ascended the river in boats 
some one hundred and twenty or one hundred 
and fifty miles, took possession of the country in 
the name of his Britannic majesty, giving the 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

river the name of the Columbia^ and to the bay 
where the American captain stopped, that of 
Gray's hay. Since that period the country had 
been seldom visited (till 1811), and chiefly by 
American ships. 

Sir Alexander M'Kenzie, in his second over- 
land voyage, tried to reach the western ocean 
by the Columbia river, and thought he had suc- 
ceeded when he came out six degrees farther 
north, at the bottom of Puget's sound, by an- 
other river.* 

In 1805, the American government sent Cap- 
tains Lewis and Clark, with about thirty men, 
including some Kentucky hunters, on an over- 
land journey to the mouth of the Columbia. 
They ascended the Missouri, crossed the moun- 
tains at the source of tliat river, and following 
the course of the Columbia, reached the shores 
of the Pacific, where they were forced to winter. 
The report which they made of their expedition 
to the United States government created a lively 
sensation.! 

" M'Kenzie's Travels. \ Lewis and Clark's Report. 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

Mr. Jolin Jacob Astor, a New York merchant, 
who conducted almost alone the trade in furs 
south of the great lakes Huron and Superior, 
and who had acquired by that commerce a pro- 
digious fortune, thought to augment it by form- 
ing on the banks of the Columbia an establish- 
ment of which the principal or supply factory 
should be at the mouth of that river. He com- 
municated his views to the agents of the North- 
west Company ; he was even desirous of form- 
ing the proposed establishment in concert with 
them ; but after some negotiations, the inland 
or wintering partners of that association of fur- 
traders having rejected the plan, Mr. Astor de- 
termined to make the attempt alone. He needed 
for the success of his enterprise, men long versed 
in the Indian trade, and he soon found them. 
Mr. Alexander M'Kay (the same who had ac- 
companied Sir Alexander M' Kenzie in his travels 
overland), a bold and enterprising man, left the 
Northwest Company to join him ; and soon after, 
Messrs Duncan M'Dougal and Donald M' Kenzie 
(also in the service of the comp!ln)>), and 



INTRODUCTION. 21 

Messrs. David Stuart and Robert Stuart, all of 
Canada, did tlie same. At length, in the winter 
of 1810, a Mr. Wilson Price Hunt of St. Louis, 
on the Mississippi, having also joined them, they 
determined that the expedition should be set on 
foot in the following spring. 

It was in the course of that winter tliat one 
of my friends made me acquainted in coniidence 
with the plan of these gentlemen, under the in- 
junction of strictest secrecy. The desire of 
seeing strange countries, joined to that of acquir- 
ing a fortune, determined me to solicit employ- 
ment of the new association ; on the 20th of May 
I had an interview with Mr. A. M'Kay, with 
whom the preliminaries were arranged ; and on 
the 24th of the same month I signed an agree- 
ment as an apprenticed clerk for the term of five 
years. 

When the associates had engaged a sufficient 
number of Canadian boatmen, they equipped a 
bark canoe imder charge of Messrs. Hunt and 
M'Kenzie, with a Mr. Perrault as clerk, and a 
crew of fourteen men. These gentlemen were 



« 

22 INTRODUCTION. 

to proceed to Mackinaw, and thence to St. 
Louis, hiring on the way as many men as they 
could to man the canoes, in which, from the last- 
mentioned port, they were to ascend the Mis- 
souri to its source, and tliere diverging from the 
route followed by Lewis and Clark, reach the 
mouth of the Columbia to form a junction with 
another party, who were to go round by way of 
Cape Horn. In the course of my narrative I 
shall have occasion to speak of the success of 
both these expeditions. 



NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE 



NORTHWEST COAST OF AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



Departure from Montreal. — Anrival in New York. — Description 
of that City. — Names of tlie Persons engaged in the Expedi- 
tion. 

We remained in Montreal the rest of the 
spring and a part of the summer. At last, hav- 
ing completed our arrangements for the journey, 
we received orders to proceed, and on the 26th 
of July, accompanied by my father and brothers 
and a few friends, I repaired to the place of 
embarkation, where was prepared a birch bark 
canoe, manned by nine Canadians, having Mr. 
A. M'Kay as commander, and a Mr. A. Fisher 
as passenger. The sentiments which I experi- 



24 pranchere's voyage. 

enced at that moment would be as difficult for 
me to describe as they were painful to support ; 
for the first time in my life I quitted the place 
of my birth, and was separated from beloved 
parents and intimate friends, ha\'ing for my 
whole consolation the faint hope of seeing them 
again. We embarked at about five, P. M,, and 
arrived at La Prairie de la Madeleine (on the 
opposite side of the St. Lawrence), toward eight 
o'clock.* We slept at this village, and the next 
morning, very early, having secured the canoe 
on a wagon, we got in motion again, and reached 
St. John's on the river Richelieu, a little before 
noon. Here we relaunched our canoe (after 
having well calked the seams), crossed or rath- 
er traversed the length of Lake Champlain, and 
arrived at Whitehall on the 30th. There we 
were overtaken by Mr. Ovid de Montigny, and 
a Mr. P. D. Jeremie, who were to be of the 
expedition. 
Having again placed our canoe on a wagon, 

* This place is famous in tlie history of Canada, and more par- 
ticularly in the thrilling story of the Indian missions. — Ed. 



ARRIVED AT NEW YORK. 25 

we pursued our journey, and arrived on the 1st 
of August at Lansingburg, a little village situated 
on the bank of the river Hudson. Here we got 
our canoe once more afloat, passed by Troy, and 
by Albany, everywhere hospitably received, our 
Canadian boatmen, having their hats decorated 
with parti-colored ribands and feathers, being 
taken by the Americans for so many wild Indians, 
and arrived at New York on the 3d, at eleven 
o'clock in the evening. 

We had landed at the north end of the city, 
and the next day, being Sunday, we re-embarked, 
and were obliged to make a course round the 
city, in order to arrive at our lodgings on Long 
Island. We sang as we rowed ; which, joined to 
the unusual sight of a birch bark canoe impelled 
by nine stout Canadians, dark as Indians, and 
as gayly adorned, attracted a crowd upon the 
wharves to gaze at us as we glided along. Wc 
found on Long Island (in the village of Brook- 
lyn) those young gentlemen engaged in the ser- 
vice of the new company, who had left Canada 
in advance of our party. 



26 franchere's voyage. 

The vessel in which we were to sail not being 
ready, I should have found myself quite isolated 
and a stranger in the great city of New York, 

but for a letter of introduction to Mr. G , 

given me on my setting out, by Madame his sister. 
I had formed the acquaintance of this gentleman 
during a stay which he had made at Montreal in 
1801 ; but as I was then very young, he would 
probably have had some difficulty in recognising 
me without his sister's letter. He introduced 
me to several of his friends, and I passed in an 
agreeable manner the five weeks which elapsed 
between my arrival in New York and the depart- 
ure of the ship. 

I shall not undertake to describe New York ; 
I will only say, that the elegance of the buildings, 
public and private, the cleanliness of the streets, 
the shade of the poplars which border them, the 
public walks, the markets always abundantly 
I provided with all sorts of commodities, the ac- 
tivity of its commerce, then in a flourishing con- 
dition, the vast number of ships of all nations 
which crowded the quays ; all, in a word, con- 



NEW YORK, 27 

spired to make me feel the difference between 
this great maritime city and my native town, 
of whose steeples I had never lost sight before, 
and which was by no means at that time what it 
is now. 

New York was not then, and indeed is not at 
this time a fortified town ; still there were seve- 
ral batteries and military works, the most con- 
siderable of which were seen on the Narroivs, or 
channel which forms the principal mouth of the 
Hudson. The isles called Governor's Island, 
and Bedloe or Gibbet Island, were also well for- 
tified. On the first, situated to the west of the 
city and about a mile from it, there were bar- 
racks sufficiently capacious for several thousand 
soldiers, and a Moro, or castle, with three tiers 
of guns, all bomb-proof. These works have been 
strengthened during the last war. 

The market-places are eight in number; the 
most considerable is called Fly-Market. 

The Park, the Battery, and Vauxhall Garden, 
are the principal promenades. There were, in 
1810, thirty-two churches, two of which were de- 



28 franchere's voyage. 

voted to the catholic worship ; and the popula- 
tion was estimated at ninety thousand souls, of 
whom ten thousand were French. It is thought 
that this population has since been augmented 
(1819) by some thirty thousand souls. 

During my sojourn at New York, I lodged in 
Brooklyn, on Long Island, This island is sepa- 
rated from the city by a sound, or narrow arm 
of the sea. There is here a pretty village, not 
far from which is a basin, where some gun-boats 
were hauled up, and a few war vessels were on 
the stocks. Some barracks had been constructed 
here, and a guard was maintained. 

Before leaving New York, it is well to observe 
that during our stay in that city, Mr. M'Kay 
thought it the part of prudence to have an inter- 
view with the minister plenipotentiary of his 
Britannic majesty, Mr. Jackson,* to inform him 
of the object of our voyage, and get his views in 
regard to the line of conduct we ought to follow 
in case of war breaking out between the two 
powers ; intimating to him that we were all Brit- 

* This geiUlemaii was really charge iVnJj'aires. 



THE TONQUIN. 29 

ish subjects, and were about to trade under the 
American flag. After some moments of reflection 
Mr. Jackson told him, " that we were going on a 
very hazardous enterprise ; that he saw our ob- 
ject was purely commercial, and that all ho 
could promise us, was, that in case of a war 
we should be respected as British subjects and 
traders." 

This reply appeared satisfactory, and Mr. 
M'Kay thought we had nothing to apprehend 
on that side. 

The vessel in which we were to sail was called 
tlie Tonquin, of about 300 tons burden, com- 
manded by Captain Thorn (a first-lieutenant of 
the American navy, on furlough for this pur- 
pose), with a crew of twenty-one men. The 
number of passengers was thirty-three. Here 
follow the names of both. 

Passengers. 

'Messrs. Alexander M'Kay i 

_, I " Duncan M'Dougall, I „ „^ , 

Partners < ° ^ all of Canada. 

" David Stuart, f 

" Robert Stuart, J 



30 



franchere's voyage. 



Clerks < 



'James Lewis of New York. 
Russel Farnham of Massachusetts. 
William W. Matthews of New York 
Alexander Ross, 
Donald M'Gillis, 
Ovide de Montigny, 
Francis B. Pillot, 
Donald M'Lennan, 
William Wallace, 
Thomas M'Kay, 
Gabriel Franchere, 



Oliver Roy Lapensec, 
Igha'ce Lapensee 
Basile Lapensee. 
w J Jacques Lafantaisie, 
^ Benjamin Roussel, 
Michel Laframboise, 
I Giles Lcclerc, 



> all from Canada. 



Joseph LapieiTe, 
Joseph Nadeau, 
J. B"te. Bclleau, 
Antoine Belleau, 
Louis Brusl6, 
P. D. Jeremie, 
all of Canada. 



Johann Koaster, ship-carpenter, a Russian, 
George Bell, cooper, New York, 
•lob Aitken, rigger and calker, from Scotland, 
Augustus Roussil, blacksmith, Canada, 
Guilleaume Perreault, a boy. These last were all me- 
chanics, &c., destined for the establishment. 



Crew. 

Jonathan Thorn, captain. New York State. 

Ebene7.er D. Fox, 1st mate, of Boston. 

John M. Mumford, 2d mate, of Massachusetts. 

.Tames Thorn, brother of the captain. Now York. 

John Anderson, boatswain, foreigner. 

Egbert Vanderhuff, tailor. New York, 

John Weeks, carpenter, " 



CREW. 



SI 



ilmake 



Sailor 



Stephen Weeks, armorer, New York. 

John Coles, New York, > 

> I 
John Martin, a Frenchman, ) 

John White, New York. 

Adam Fisher, " 

Peter Verbel, " 

Edward Aj-mes, " 

Robert Hill, Albany, New York. 

John Adams, " 

Joseph Johnson, Englishman, 

^Charles Roberts, New York, 

A colored man as cook, 

A mulatto steward, 

And three or four others whose names I have forgotten 



r 



32 franchere's voyage. 



CHAPTER 11. 

Departure from New York. — Reflections of the Author. — Naviga- 
tion, falling in with other Ships, and various Incidents, till the 
Vessel comes in Sight of the Falkland Isles. 

All being ready for our departure, we went 
on board ship, and weighed anchor on the 6th 
of September, in the morning. The wind soon 
fell off, and the first day was spent in drifting 
down to Staten island, where we came to anchor 
for the night. The next day we weighed anchor 
again ; but there came on another dead calm, 
and we were forced to cast anchor near the light- 
house at Sandy Hook. On the 8th we weighed 
anchor for the third time, and by the help of a 
fresh breeze from the southwest, we succeeded 
in passing the bar ; the pilot quitted us at about 
eleven o'clock, and soon after we lost sight of 
the coast. 



REFLECTIONS. SS 

One must have experienced it one's self, to be 
able to conceive the melancholy which takes pos- 
session of the soul of a man of sensibility, at the 
instant that he leaves his country and the ci\al- 
ized world, to go to inhabit with strangers in 
wild and unknown lands. I should in vain en- 
deavor to give my readers an idea, even faintly 
correct, of the painful sinking of heart that I 
suddenly felt, and of the sad glance which I 
involuntarily cast toward a future so much the 
more frightful to 'me, as it offered nothing but 
what was perfectly confused and uncertain. A 
new scene of life was unfolded before me, but 
how monotonous, and ill suited to diminish the 
dejection with which my mind was overwhelmed ! 
For the first time in my life, I found myself 
under way upon the main sea, with nothing to fix 
my regards and arrest my attention but the frail 
machine which bore me between the abyss of 
waters and the immensity of the skies. I re- 
mained for a long time with my eyes fixed in the 
direction of that land which I no longer saw, and 
almost despaired of ever seeing again ; I made 

0* 



84 franchere's voyage. 

serious reflections on the nature and consequences 
of the enterprise in which I had so rashly em- 
barked ; and I confess that if at that moment 
the offer had been made to release me from my 
engagement, I should have accepted the proposal 
with all my heart. It is true that the hopeless 
confusion and incumberment of the vessel's deck, 
the groat number of strangers among whom I 
found myself, the brutal style which the captain 
and his subalterns used toward our young Cana- 
dians ; all, in a word, conspired to make me 
augur a vexatious and disagreeable voyage. 
The sequel will show that I did not deceive my- 
self in that. 

We perceived very soon in the S. "W., which 
was our weather side, a vessel that bore directly 
toward us ; she made a signal that was under- 
stood by our captain ; we hove to, and stood on 
her bow. It turned out to be the American frig- 
ate Constitution. We sent our boat on board of 
her, and sailed in company till toward five 
o'clock, when, our papers having been sent back 
to us, we separated. 



CAPE-VERD ISLES. 35 

The wind having increased, the motion of the 
vessel made us sea-sick, those of us, I mean, who 
were for the first time at sea. The weather was 
fine, however ; the vessel, which at first sailing 
was lumbered in such a manner that we could 
hardly get in or out of our berths, and scarcely 
work ship, by little and little got into order, so 
that we soon found ourselves more at ease. 

On the 14th we commenced to take flying fish. 
The 24th, we saw a great quantity of dolphins. 
We prepared lines and took two of the latter, 
which we cooked. The flesh of this fish ap- 
peared to me excellent. 

After leaving New York, till the 4th of Octo- 
ber, we headed southeast. On that day we 
struck the trade winds, and bore S. S. E. ; being, 
according to our observations, in latitude 17° 
43'^ and longitude 22° 39'^ 

On the 5th, in the morning, we came in sight 
of the Cape-Verd islands, bearing W. N. W., 
and distant about eight or nine miles, having the 
coast of Africa to the K S. E. We should have 
been very glad to touch at these islands to take 



36 franchere's voyage. 

in water ; but as our vessel was an American 
bottom, and had on board a number of British 
subjects, our captain did not think fit to expose 
himself to meet the English ships-of-war cruising 
on these coasts, who certainly would not have 
failed to make a strict search, and to take from 
us the best part of our crew ; which would infal- 
libly have proved disastrous to the object for 
which we had shipped them. 

Speaking of water, I may mention that the 
rule was to serve it out in rations of a quart a 
day ; but that we were now reduced to a pint 
and a half. For the rest, our fare consisted of 
fourteen ounces of hard bread, a pound and a 
quarter of salt beef or one of pork, per day, and 
half a pint of souchong tea, with sugar, per 
man. Tlie pork and beef were served alter- 
nately : rice and beans, each once a week ; corn- 
meal pudding with molasses, 'ilitto ; on Sundays 
the steerage passengers were allowed a bottle of 
Teneriflfe wine. All except the four partners, 
Mr. Lewis, acting as captain's clerk, and Mr. T. 
M'Kay, were in the steerage ; the cabin contain- 



A SAIL. 87 

ing but six berths, besides the captain's and 
first-mate's state-rooms. 

As long as we were near the coast of Africa, 
we had light and variable winds, and extremely 
hot weather ; on the 8th, we had a dead calm, 
and saw several sharks round the vessel ; we 
took one which we ate. I found the taste to re- 
semble sturgeon. We experienced on that day 
an excessive heat, the mercury being at 94° of 
Fahrenheit. From the 8th to the 11th we had 
on board a canary bird, which we treated with 
the greatest care and kindness, but which 
nevertheless quitted us, probably for a certain 
death. 

The nearer we approached to the equator the 
more we perceived the heat to increase : on the 
16th, in latitude 6°, longitude 22° west from 
Greenwich, the mercury stood at 108°. We 
discovered on that day a sail bearing down upon 
us. The next morning she reappeared, and 
approached within gun-shot. She was a large 
brig, carrying about twenty guns : we sailed in 
company all day by a good breeze, all sail 



38 franchere's voyage. 

spread ; but toward evening she dropped astern 
and altered her course to the S. S. E. 

On the 18th, at daybreak, the watch alarmed 
us by announcing that the same brig which had 
followed us the day before, was under our lee, a 
cable's length off, and seemed desirous of know- 
ing who we were, without showing her own 
colors. Our captain appeared to be in some 
alarm ; and admitting that she was a better 
sailer than we, he called all the passengers and 
crew on deck, the drum beat to quarters, and 
we feigned to make preparations for combat. 

It is well to observe that our vessel mounted 
ten pieces of cannon, and was pierced for twenty ; 
the forward port-holes were adorned with sham 
guns. Whether it was our formidable appear- 
ance or no, at about ten A. M. the stranger 
again changed her course, and we soon lost sight 
of her entirely. 

Nothing further remarkable occurred to us till 
the 22d, when we passed the line in longitude 25° 
9". According to an ancient custom the crew 
baptized those of their number who had never 

/ 



CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN. 39 

before crossed the equator ; it was a holyday for 
them on board. About two o'clock in the after- 
noon we perceived a sail in the S. S. W. We 
were not a little alarmed, believing that it was 
the same brig which we had seen some days 
before ; for it was lying to, as if awaiting our 
approach. We soon drew near, and to our great 
joy discovered that she was a Portuguese ; we 
hailed her, and learned that she came from some 
part of South America, and was bound to Per- 
nambuco, on the coasts of Brazil. Yery soon 
after we began to see what navigators call the 
Clouds of Magellan : they are three little white 
spots that one perceives in the sky almost as 
soon as one passes the equator : they were situ- 
ated in the S. S. W. 

The 1st November, we began to see great 
numbers of aquatic birds. Toward three o'clock 
P. M., we discovered a sail on our larboard, but 
did not approach sufficiently near to speak her. 
The 3d, we saw two more sails, making to the 
S. E. We passed the tropic of Capricorn on the 
4th, with a fine breeze, and in longitude 33° 27". 



40 franchere's voyage. 

We lost the trade-winds, and as we advanced 
south the weather became cold and rainy. The 
11th, we had a calm, although the swell was 
heavy. We saw several turtles, and the captain 
having sent out the small boat, we captured two 
of them. During the night of the 11th and 12th, 
the wind changed to the N. E., and raised a ter- 
rible tempest, in which the gale, the rain, the 
lightning, and thunder, seemed to have sworn our 
destruction ; the sea appeared all a-fire, while 
our little vessel was the sport of winds and 
waves. We kept the hatches closed, which did 
not prevent us from passing very uncomfortable 
nights while the storm lasted ; for the great 
heats that we had experienced between the trop- 
ics, had so opened the seams of the deck that 
every time the waves passed over, the water 
rushed down in quantities upon our hammocks. 
The 14th, the wind shifted to the S. S. W., 
which compelled us to beat to windward. Du- 
ring the night we were struck by a tremendous 
sea ; the helm was seized beyond control, and 
the man at the wheel was thrown from one side 



WANT OF WATER. 41 

of the ship to the other, breaking two of his ribs, 
which confined him to his berth for a week. 

In latitude 35° 19", longitude 40°, the sea 
appeared to be covered with marine plants, and 
the change that we observed in the color of the 
water, as well as the immense number of gulls 
and other aquatic birds that we saw, proved to 
us that we were not far from tlie mouth of tlie 
Rio de la Plata. The wind continued to blow 
furiously till the 21st, when it subsided a little, 
and the weather cleared up. On the 25th, being 
in the 46th degfee, and 30 minutes of latitude, 
we saw a penguin. 

"We began to feel sensibly the want of water : 
since passing the tropic of Capricorn the daily 
allowance had been always diminishing, till we 
were reduced to three gills a day, a slender 
modicum considering that we had only salt pro- 
visions: We had indeed a still, which we used 
to render the sea-water drinkable ; but we dis- 
tilled merely what sufficed for the daily use of 
the kitchen, as to do more would have required 
a great quantity of wood or coal. As we were 



42 franchere's voyage, 

not more than one hundred and fifty leagues 
from the Falkland isles, we determined to put 
in there and endeavor to replenish our casks, 
and the captain caused the anchors to be got 
ready. 

"We had contrary winds from the 27th of 
November to the 3d December. On the evening 
of that day, we heard one of the officers, who 
was at the mast head, cry " Land ! Land ! " 
Nevertheless, the night coming on, and the bar- 
ren rocks which we had before us being little 
elevated above the ocean, we hove to. 



FALKLAND ISLES, 43 



CHAPTER III. 

Arrival at the Falkland Isles. — Landing. — Perilous Situation of 
the Author and some of his Companions. — Portrait of Captain 
Thorn. — Cape Horn. — Navigation to the Sandvi-ich Islands. 

On the 4th (Dec.) in the morning, I was not 
the last to mount on deck, to feast my eyes with 
the sight of land ; for it is only those who have 
been three or four months at sea, who know how 
to appreciate the pleasure which one then feels 
even at sight of such barren and bristling rocks 
as form the Falkland Isles. "We drew near 
these rocks very soon, and entered between two 
of the islands, where we anchored on a good 
ground. The first mate being sent ashore to 
look for water, several of our gentlemen accom- 
panied him. They returned in the evening with 
the disappointing intelligence that they had not 
been able to find fresh water. They brought us, 



44 franchere's voyage. 

to compensate for this, a number of wild geese 
and two seals. 

The weather appearing to threaten, we weighed 
anchor and put out to sea. The night was tem- 
pestuous, and in the moaning of the 5th we had 
lost sight of the first islands. The wind blowing 
off land, it was necessary to beat up all that day ; 
in the evening we found ourselves sufficiently 
near the shore, and hove to for the night. The 
6th brought us a clear sky, and with a fresh 
breeze we succeeded in gaining a good anchorage, 
which we took to be Port Egmont, and where 
we found good water. 

On the 7th, we sent ashore the water casks, as 
well as the cooper to superintend filling them, 
and the blacksmiths who were occupied in some 
repairs required by the ship. For our part, 
having erected a tent near the springs, we passed 
the time while they were taking in water, in 
coursing over the isles : we had a boat for our 
accommodation, and killed every day a great 
many wild geese and ducks. These birds differ 
in plumage from those which are seen in Canada. 



PENGUINS. • 45 

We also killed a great many seals. These ani- 
mals ordinarily keep upon the rocks. We also 
saw several foxes of the species called Virginia 
fox : they were shy and yet fierce, barking like 
dogs and then flying precipitately. Penguins 
are also numerous on the Falkland Isles. These 
birds have a fine plumage, and resemble the loon: 
but they do not fly, having only little stumps of 
wings which they use to lieliD themselves in wad- 
dling along. The rocks were covered with them. 
It being their sitting season we found them on 
their nests, from which they would not stir. They 
are not wild or timid: far from flying at our ap- 
proach, they attacked us with their bill, which is 
very sharp, and with their short wings. The flesh 
of the penguin is black and leathery, with a strong 
fishy taste, and one must be very hungry to make 
up one's mind to eat it. We got a great quantity 
of eggs by dislodging them from their nests. 

As the French and English had both attempted 
to form establishments on these rocks, we en- 
deavored to find some vestige of them ; the 
tracks which we met everywhere made us hope 



46 franchere's voyage. 

to find goats also : but all our researclies were 
vain : all that we discovered was an old fishing 
cabin, constructed of whale bone, aild some 
seal-skin moccasins ; for these rocks offer not a 
single tree to the view, and are frequented solely 
by the vessels which pursue the whale fishery in 
the southern seas. We found, however, two 
head-boards with inscriptions in English, mark- 
ing the spot where two men had been interred : 
as the letters were nearly obliterated, we carved 
new ones on fresh pieces of board procured from 
the ship. This pious attention to two dead men 
nearly proved fatal to a greater number of the 
living ; for all the casks having been filled and 
sent on board, the captain gave orders to re-em- 
bark, and without troubling himself to inquire if 
this order had been executed or not, caused the 
anchor to be weighed on the morning of the 11th, 
while I and some of my companions were en- 
gaged in erecting the inscriptions of which I have 
spoken, others were cutting grass for the hogs, 
and Messrs M'Dougall and D. Stuart had gone 
to the south side of the isle to look for game. 



CAPTAIN THORN. 47 

The roaring of the sea against the rock-bound 
shore prevented them from hearing the gun, and 
they did not rejoin us till the vessel was already 
at sea. We then lost no time, but pushed off, 
being eight in number, with our little boat, only 
twenty feet keel. We rowed with all our might, 
but gained nothing upon the vessel. We were 
losing sight of the islands at last, and our case 
seemed desperate. While we paused, and were 
debating what course to pursue, as we had no 
compass, we observed the ship tacking and stand- 
ing toward us. In fine after rowing for three 
hours and a half, in an excited state of feeling 
not easily described, we succeeded in regaining 
the vessel, and were taken on board at about 
three o'clock P. M. 

Having related this trait of malice on the part 
of our captain, I shall be permitted to make some 
remarks on his character. Jonathan Thorn was 
brought up in the naval service of his country, 
and had distinguished himself in a battle fought 
between the Americans and the Turks at Tripoli, 
some years l)efore : he held the rank of first lieu- 



48 franchere's voyage. 

tenant. He was a strict disciplinarian, of a 
quick and passionate temper, accustomed to 
exact obedience, considering nothing but dutj, 
and giving himself no trouble about the murmurs 
of his crew, taking counsel of nobody, and fol- 
lowing Mr. Astor's instructions to the letter. 
Such was the man who had been selected to com- 
mand our ship. His haughty manners, his rough 
and overbearing disposition, had lost him the 
affection of most of the crew and of all the pas- 
sengers : he knew it, and in consequence sought 
every opportunity to mortify us. It is true that 
the passengers had some reason to reproach 
themselves ; they were not free from blame ; but 
he had been the aggressor ; and nothing could 
excuse the act of cruelty and barbarity of which 
he was guilty, in intending to leave us upon those 
barren rocks of the Falkland isles, where we 
must inevitably have perished. This lot was 
reserved for us, but for the bold interference of 
Mr. R. Stuart, whose uncle was of our party, and 
who, seeing that the captain, far from waiting for 
us, coolly continued his course, threatened to 



,»UU;1«|1.1W>1,„1 «.;„.. 





CAPE HOR?r. 49 

blow his brains out unless he hove to and took 
us on board. 

"We pursued our course, bearing S. S. W., and 
on the 14th, in latitude 54° 1', longitude 64° 
13', we found bottom at sixty-five fathoms, and 
saw a sail to the south. On the 15th, in the 
morning, we discovered before us the high moun- 
tains of Terra delfue^o, which we continued to 
see till evening: the weather then thickened, 
and we lost sight of them. "We encoimtered a 
furious storm which drove us to the 56th degree 
and 18' of latitude. On the 18th, we were only 
fifteen leagues from Cape Horn. A dead calm 
followed, but the current carried us within sight 
of the cape, five or six leagues distant. This 
cape, which forms the southern extremity of the 
American continent, has always been an ol^ject 
of terror to the navigators who have to pass 
from one sea to the other ; several of whom to 
avoid doubling it, have exposed themselves to 
the long and dangerous passage of tlie straits of 
Magellan, especially when about entering the 
Pacific ocean. When we saw ourselves under 
3 



50 FRANCHERE's VOYACxE. 

the stupendous rocks of the cape, we felt no 
other desire but to get away from them as soon 
as possible, so little agreeable were those rocks 
to the view, even in the case of people who had 
been some months at sea ! And by the help of 
a land breeze we succeeded in gaining an offing. 
While becalmed here, we measured the velocity 
of the current setting east, which we found to be 
about three miles an hour. 

The wind soon changed again to the S. S. W., 
and blew a gale. We had to beat. We passed 
in sight of the islands of Diego Ramirez, and 
saw a large schooner under their lee. The dis- 
tance that we had run from New York, was 
about 9,165 miles. We had frightful weather 
till the 24th, when we found ourselves in 58° 
16' of south latitude. Although it was tlie 
height of summer in that hemisphere, and the 
days as long as they are at Quebec on the 21st 
of June (we could read on deck at midnight 
without artificial light), the cold was neverthe- 
less very great and the air very humid : the mer- 
cury for several days was but fourteen degrees 



THE PACIFIC. 51 

above freezing point, by Fahrenheit's thermome- 
ter. If such is the temperature in these lati- 
tudes at the end of December, corresponding to 
our June, what must it be in the shortest days 
of the year, and where can the Patagonians then 
take i-efuge, and the inhabitants of the islands so 
improperly named the Land of Fire ! 

The wind, which till the 24th had been con 
trary, hauled round to the south, and we ran 
westward. The next day being Christmas, we 
had the satisfaction to learn by our noon-day 
observation that we had weathered the cape, 
and were, consequently, now in the Pacific ocean. 
Up to that date we had but one man attacked 
with scurvy, a malady to which those who make 
long voyages are subject, and which is occasioned 
by the constant use of salt provisions, by the 
humidity of the vessel, and the inaction. 

From the 25th of December till the 1st of Jan- 
uary, we were favored with a fair wind and ran 
eighteen degrees to the north in that short space 
of time. Though cold yet, the weather was nev- 
ertheless very agreeable. On the 17th, in lati- 



62 feanchere's voyage. 

* 

tude 10° S., and longitude 110° 50' W.,we took 
several bonitas, an excellent fisli. "We passed the 
equator on the 23d, in 128° 14' of west longi- 
tude. A great many porpoises came round the 
vessel. On the 25th arose a tempest which last- 
ed till the 28th. The wind then shifted to the 
E. S. E. and carried us two hundred and twenty- 
four miles on our course in twenty-four hours. 
Then we had several days of contrary winds ; on 
the 8tli of February it hauled to the S. E., and 
on the 11th we saw the peak of a mountain cov- 
ered with snow, which the first mate, who was 
familiar with these seas, told me was the summit 
of 3Iona-Roah, a high mountain on the island 
of Ohehj/, one of those which the circumnaviga- 
tor Cook named the Sandwich Isles, and where 
he met his death in 1779. "We headed to the 
land all day, and although we made eight or 
nine knots an hour, it was not till evening that 
we were near enough to distinguish the huts of 
the islanders : which is sufficient to prove the 
prodigious elevation of Mona Roah above the 
level of the sea. 



ACCIDENT. 63 



CHAPTER IV. 

Accident. — View of tlie Coast. — Attempted Visit of the Natives. 
— Their Industn-. — Bay of Karaka-koua. — Landing on the 
Island. — John Young, Governor of Owahee. 

We were ranging along the coast with the aid 
of a fine breeze, when the boy Perrault, who had 
mounted the fore-rigging to enjoy the scenery, 
lost his hold, and being to windward where the 
shrouds were taut, rebounded from them like a 
ball some twenty feet from the ship's side into 
the ocean. "We perceived his fall and threw 
over to him chairs, barrels, benches, hen-coops, 
in a word everything we could lay hands on ; 
then the captain gave the orders to heave to ; in 
the twinkling of an eye the lashings of one of the 
quarter-boats were cut apart, the boat lowered 
and manned : by this time the boy was consider- 
ably a-stern. He would have been lost undoubt- 



64 francheke's voyage. 

edly but for a wide pair of canvass overalls full 
of tar and grease, which operated like a life-pre- 
server. His head, however, was under when he 
was picked up, and he was brought on board 
lifeless, about a quarter of an hour after he fell 
into the sea. We succeeded, notwithstanding, 
in a short time, in l)ringing him to, and in a few 
hours he was able to run upon the deck. 

The coast of the island, viewed from the sea, 
offers the most picturesque coup cVoeil, and the 
loveliest prospect ; from the beach to the moun- 
tains the land rises amphitheatrically, all along 
which is a border of lower country covered with 
cocoa-trees and bananas, through the thick foli- 
age whereof you perceive the huts of the island- 
ers ; the valleys which divide the hills that lie 
beyond appear well cultivated, and the moun- 
tains themselves, though extremely high, are 
covered with wood to their summits, except those 
few peaks which glitter with perpetual snow. 

As we ran along the coast, some canoes left 
the beach and came alongside, with vegetables 
and cocoa-nuts ; but as we wished to profit by 



NATIVES. 55 

the breeze to gain the anchorage, we did not 
think fit to stop. We coasted along during a 
part of the night; but a calm came on which 
lasted till the morrow. As we were opposite 
the bay of Karaka-koua, the natives came out 
again, in greater numbers, bringing us cabbages, 
yams, taro, bananas, bread-fruit, water-melons, 
poultry, &c., for which we traded in the way of 
exchange. Toward evening, by the aid of a sea 
breeze that rose as day declined, we got inside 
the harbor where we anchored on a coral bottom 
in fourteen fathoms water. 

The next day the islanders visited the vessel 
in great numbers all day long, bringing, as on 
the day before, fruits, vegetables, and some pigs, 
in exchange for which we gave them glass beads, 
iron rings, needles, cotton cloth, &c. 

Some of our gentlemen went ashore and were 
astonished to find a native occupied in building 
a small sloop of about thirty tons : the tools of 
which he made use consisted of a half worn-out 
axe, an adze, about two-inch blade, made out of 
a paring chisel, a saw, and an iron rod which he 



56 franchere's voyage. 

heated red hot and made it serve the purpose of 
an auger. It required no little patience and 
dexterity to achieve anything with such instru- 
ments : he was apparently not deficient in these 
qualities, for his work was tolerably well ad- 
vanced. Our people took liim on board with 
them, and we supplied him with suitable tools, 
for which he appeared extremely grateful. 

On the 14th, in the morning, while the ship's 
carpenter was engaged in replacing one of the 
cat-heads, two composition sheaves fell into the 
sea ; as we had no others on board, the captain 
proposed to the islanders, who are excellent 
swimmers, to dive for them, promising a reward ; 
and immediately two offered themselves. They 
plunged several times, and each time brought up 
shells as a proof that they had been to the bot- 
tom. We had the curiosity to hold our watches 
while they dove, and were astonished to find that 
they remained four minutes under the water. 
That exertion appeared to me, however, to 
fatigue them a great deal, to such a degree that 
the blood streamed from tlieir nostrils and ears. 



CAPTAIN COOK. 67 

At last one of them brought up the sheaves and 
received the promised recompense, which con- 
sisted of four yards of cotton. 

Karaka-koua bay where we lay, may be three 
quarters of a mile deep, and a mile and a half 
wide at the entrance : the latter is formed by 
two low points of rock which appear to have run 
down from the mountains in the form of lava, 
after a volcanic eruption. On each point is situ- 
ated a village of moderate size ; that is to say, a 
small group of the low huts of the islanders. 
The bottom of the bay terminates in a bold 
escarpment of rock, some four hundred feet high, 
on the top of which is seen a solitary cocoa-tree. 

On the evening of the 14th, I went ashore with 
some other passengers, and we landed at the 
group of cabins on the western point, of those . 
which I have described. The inhabitants enter- 
tained us with a dance executed by nineteen 
young women and one man, all singing together, 
and in pretty good time. An old man showed 
us the spot where Captain Cook was killed, on 

the 14th of February, 1779, with the cocoarnut 
3* 



58 franchere's voyage. 

trees pierced by the balls from the boats which 
the unfortunate navigator commanded. This old 
man, whether it were feigned or real sensibility, 
seemed extremely affected and even shed tears, 
in showing us these objects. As for me, I could 
not help finding it a little singular to be thus, by 
mere chance, upon this spot, on the 14th of Fcl> 
ruary, 1811 ; that Is to say, thirty-two years 
after, on the anniversary of the catastrophe 
which has rendered it for ever celebrated. I 
drew no sinister augury from the coincidence, 
however, and returned to the ship with my com- 
panions as gay as I left it. When I say with my 
companions, I ought to except the boatswain, 
John Anderson, who, having had several alterca- 
tions with the captain on the passage, now 
deserted the ship, preferring to live with the 
natives rather than obey any longer so uncour- 
teous a superior. A sailor also deserted ; but 
the islanders brought him back, at the request 
of the captain. They offered to bring back 
Anderson, but the captain preferred leaving him 
behind. 



GOVERNOR YOUNG. 69 

We found no good water near Karaka-koua 
bay : what the natives brought us in gourds was 
brackish. We were also in great want of fresh 
meat, but could not obtain it : the king of these 
islands having expressly forbidden his subjects 
to supply any to the vessels which touched there. 
One of the chiefs sent a canoe to Tohehigh bay, to 
get from the governor of the island, who resided 
there, permission to sell us some pigs. The 
messengers returned the next day, and brought 
us a letter, in which the governor ordered us to 
proceed without delay to the isle of Wahoo, 
where the king lives ; assuring us that we should 
there find good water and everything else we 
needed. 

We got under way on the 16th, and with a 
light wind coasted the island as far as Tohehigh 
bay. The wind then dropping away entirely, 
the captain, accompanied by Messrs. M'Kay and 
M'Dougall, went ashore, to pay a visit to the 
governor aforesaid. He was not a native, but a 
Scotchman named John Young, who came hither 
some years after the death of Captain Cook. 



60 franchere's voyage. 

This man had married a native woman, and had 
so gained the friendship and confidence of tlie 
king, as to be raised to the rank of chief and 
after the conquest of Wahoo by King Tame- 
hameha, was made governor of Owhyhee (Hawaii) 
the most considerable of the Sandwich Islands, 
botli by its extent and population. His excel- 
lency explained to our gentlemen the reason why 
the king had interdicted the trade in hogs to the 
inhabitants of all tlie islands : this reason being 
that his majesty wished to reserve to himself the 
monopoly of that branch of commerce, for the 
augmentation of his royal revenue by its exclu- 
sive profits. The governor also informed them 
that no rain had fallen on the south part of Ha- 
waii for three years ; which explained why we 
found so little fresh water : he added that the 
north part of the island was more fertile than the 
south, where we were: but that there was no 
good anchorage : that part of the coast being de- 
fended by sunken rocks which form heavy break- 
ers. In fine, the governor dismissed our gentle- 
men with a present of four fine fat hogs ; and we, 



WAHOO. 



61 



in return, sent him some tea, coflfee, and choco- 
late, and a keg of Madeira wine. 

The night was nearly a perfect calm, and on 
the 17th we fomid ourselves abreast of Mona- 
Wororayea a snow-capped mountain, like Mona- 
Roah, but which appeared to me less lofty than 
the latter. A number of islanders came to visit 
us as before, with some objects of curiosity, and 
some small fresh fish. The wind rising on the 
18th, we soon passed the western extremity of 
Hawaii, and sailed by Mowhee and Tahooraha, 
two more islands of this group, and said to be, 
like the rest, thickly inhabited. The first pre- 
sents a highly picturesque aspect, being com- 
posed of hills rising in the shape of a sugar loaf 
and completely covered with cocoa-nut and bread- 
fruit trees. 

At last, on the 21st, we approached Wahoo, 
and came to anchor opposite the bay of Ohetity, 
outside the bar, at a distance of some two miles 
from the land. 



62 franchere's voyage. 



CHAPTER V. 

Bay of Ohetity. — Tamehameha, King of the Islands. — His Visit 
to the Ship. — His Capital. — His Naval Force. — His Author- 
ity. — Productions of the Country. — Manners and Customs. — 
Reflections. 

There is no good anchorage in the bay of 
Ohetity, inside the bar or coral reef: the holding- 
ground is bad : so that, in case of a storm, the 
safety of the ship would have been endangered. 
Moreover, with a contrary wind, it would have 
been difficult to get out of the inner harbor ; for 
which reasons, our captain preferred to remain 
in the road. For the rest, the country surround- 
ing the bay is even more lovely in aspect than 
that of Karaka-koua ; the mountains rise to a 
less elevation in the back-ground, and the soil 
has an appearance of greater fertility. 

Taynehameha^ whom all the Sandwich Isles 



TAMEHAMEHA. 63 

obeyed when we were there in 1811, was neither 
the son nor the relative of Tierroboo,who reigned 
in Owhyhee (Hawaii) in 1779, when Captain 
Cook and some of his people were massacred. 
He was, at that date, but a chief of moderate 
power ; but, being skilful, intriguing, and full of 
ambition, he succeeded in gaining a numerous 
party, and finally possessed himself of the sov- 
ereignty. As soon as he saw himself master of 
Owhyhee, his native island, he meditated the 
conquest of the leeward islands, and in a few 
years he accomplished it. He even passed into 
Atouay, the most remote of all, and vanquished 
the ruler of it, but contented himself with im- 
posing on him an annual tribute. He had fixed 
his residence at Wahoo, because of all the Sand- 
wich Isles it was the most fertile, the most pic- 
turesque — in a word, the most worthy of the 
residence of the sovereign. 

As soon as we arrived, we were visited by a 
canoe manned by three white men, Da\^s and 
Wads worth, Americans, and Manini, a Spaniard. 
The last offered to be our interpreter during 



64 francheee's voyage. 

our stay ; which was agreed to. Tamehameha 
presently sent to us his prime-minister, Kraimoku, 
to whom the Americans have given the name of 
Pitt, on account of his skill in the affairs of gov- 
ernment. Our captain, accompanied by some of 
our gentlemen, went ashore immediately, to be 
presented to Tamehameha. About four o'clock, 
P, M., we saw them returning, accompanied by a 
double pirogue conveying the king and his suite. 
We ran up our colors, and received his majesty 
with a salute of four guns. 

Tamehameha was above the middle height, 
well made, robust and inclined to corpulency, 
and had a majestic carriage. He appeared to 
me from fifty to sixty years old. He was clothed 
in the European style, and wore a sword. He 
walked a long time on the deck, asking explana- 
tions in regard to those things which he had not 
seen on other vessels, and which were found on 
ours. A thing which appeared to surprise him, 
was to see that we could render the water of tlie 
sea fresh, by means of the still attached to our 
caboose ; he could not imao-ine how that could 



THE king's wives. 65 

be done. Wc invited liim into the cabin, and, 
having regaled him with some glasses of wine, 
began to talk of business matters : we offered 
him merchandise in exchange for hogs, but were 
not able to conclude the bargain that day. His 
majesty re-embarked in his double pirogue, at 
about six o'clock in the evening. It was manned 
by twenty-four men. A great chest, containing 
firearms, was lashed over the centre of the two 
canoes forming the pirogue ; and it was there 
that Tamehameha sat, with his prime-minister at 
his side. 

In the morning, on the 22d, we sent our water- 
casks ashore and filled them with excellent water. 
At about noon his sable majesty paid us another 
visit, accompanied by his three wives and his 
favorite minister. These females were of an 
extraordinary corpulence, and of mimeasured 
size. They were dressed in the fashion of the 
country, having nothing but a piece of tapa^ or 
bark-cloth, about two yards long, passed round 
the hips and falling to the knees. We resumed 
the negotiations of the day before, and were 



QQ franchere'b voyage. 

more successful. I remarked that when the bar- 
gain was concluded, he insisted with great per- 
tinacity that part of the payment should be in 
Spanish dollars. We asked the reason, and he 
made answer that he wished to buy a frigate of 
his brother, King George, meaning the king of 
England. The bargain concluded, we prayed his 
majesty and his suite to dine with us ; they con- 
sented, and toward evening retired, apparently 
well satisfied with their visit and our reception 
of them. 

In the meantime, the natives surrounded the 
ship in great numbers, with hundreds of canoes, 
offering us their goods, in the shape of eatables 
and the rude manufactures of the island, in ex- 
change for merchandise ; but, as they had also 
brought intoxicating liquors in gourds, some of 
the crew got drunk; the captain was, conse- 
quently, obliged to suspend the trade, and for- 
bade any one to traffic with the islanders, except 
through the first-mate, who was intrusted with 
that business. 

I landed on the 22d, with Messrs. Fillet and 



OHETITT. 67 

M'Gillis : we passed the night ashore, spending 
that day and the next morning in rambling over 
the environs of the bay, followed by a crowd of 
men, women, and children. 

Ohetity, where Tamehameha resides, and which, 
consequently, may be regarded as the capital of 
his kingdom, is — or at least was at that time — 
a moderate-sized city, or rather a large -sdllage. 
Besides the private houses, of which there were 
perhaps two hundred, constructed of poles planted 
in the ground and covered over with matting, 
there were the royal palace, which was not mag- 
nificent by any means : a public store, of two 
stories, one of stone and the other of wood ; two 
morais, or idol temples, and a wharf. At the 
latter we foimd an old vessel, the Lady Bird, 
which some American navigators had given in 
exchange for a schooner ; it was the only large 
vessel which King Tamehameha possessed ; and, 
besides, was worth nothing. As for schooners he 
had forty of them, of from twenty to thirty tons 
burthen: these vessels served to transport the 
tributes in kind paid by his vassals in the other 



68 franchere's voyage. 

islands. Before "the Europeans arrived among 
these savages, the latter had no means of com- 
munication between one isle and another, but 
their canoes, and as some of the islands are not 
in sight of each other, these voyages must have 
been dangerous. Near the palace I found an 
Indian from Bombay, occupied in making a 
twelve inch cable, for the use of the ship which I 
have described. 

Tamehameha kept constantly round his house a 
guard of twenty-four men. These soldiers wore, 
by way of uniform, a long blue coat with yellow ; 
and each was armed with a musket. In front of 
the house, on an open square, were placed four- 
teen four-pounders, mounted on their carriages. 

The king was absolute, and judged in person 
the differences between his subjects. We had 
an opportunity of witnessing a proof of it, the 
day after our landing. A Portuguese having 
had a quarrel with a native, who was intoxicated, 
struck him : immediately the friends of the latter, 
who had been the aggressor after all, gathered 
in a crowd to beat down the poor foreigner with 



COURT OF JUSTICE. 69 

stones ; he fled as fast as he could to the house 
of the kmg, followed by a mob of enraged na- 
tives, who nevertheless stopped at some distance 
from the guards, while the Portuguese, all breath- 
less, crouched in a corner. "We were on the es- 
planade in front of the palace royal, and curi- 
osity to see the trial led us into the presence of 
his majesty, who having caused the quarrel to be 
explained to him, and heard the witnesses on 
both sides, condemned the native to work four 
days in the garden of the Portuguese and to give 
him a hog. A young Frenchman from Bordeaux, 
preceptor of the king's sons, whom he taught to 
read, and who understood the language, acted as 
interpreter to the Portuguese, and explained to 
us the sentence. I can not say whether our pres- 
ence influenced the decision, or whether, under 
other circumstances, the Portuguese would have 
been less favorably treated. We were given to 
understand that Tamehameha was pleased to see 
whites establish themselves in his dominions, but 
that he esteemed only people with some useful 
trade, and despised idlers, and especially drunk- 



70 franchebe's voyage. 

ards. We saw at Wahoo about thirty of these 
white inhabitants, for the most part, people of 
no character, and who had remained on the 
islands either from indolence, or from drunken- 
ness and licentiousness. Some had taken wives 
in the country, in which case the king gave them 
a portion of land to cultivate for themselves. 
But two of the worst sort had found means to 
procure a small still, wherewith they manufac- 
tured rum and supplied it to the natives. 

The first navigators found only four sorts of 
quadrupeds on the Sandwich islands : — dogs, 
swine, lizards, and rats. Since then sheep have 
been carried there, goats, horned cattle, and even 
horses, and these animals have multiplied. 

The chief vegetable productions of these isles 
are the sugar cane, the bread-fruit tree, the 
banana, the water-melon, the musk-melon, the 
taro, the ava, the pandanus, the mulberry, &c. 
The bread-fruit tree is about the size of a large 
apple-tree ; the fruit resembles an apple and is 
about twelve or fourteen inches in circumference ; 
the rind is thick and rough like a melon : when 



THE TARO. 71 

cut transversely it is found to be full of sacs, like 
the inside of an orange ; the pulp has the consis- 
tence of ■water-melon, and is cooked before it is 
eaten. We saw orchards of bread-fruit trees 
and bananas, and fields of sugar-cane, back of 
Ohetity. 

The taro grows in low situations, and demands 
a great deal of care. It is not unlike a white 
turnip,* and as it constitutes the principal food 
of the natives, it is not to be wondered at that 
they bestow so much attention on its culture. 
Wherever a spring of pure water is found issu- 
ing out of the side of a hill, the gardener marks 
out on the declivity the size of the field he in- 
tends to plant. The ground is levelled and sur- 
rounded with a mud or stone wall, not exceed- 
ing eighteen inches in height, and having a flood 
gate above and below. Into this enclosure the 
water of the spring is conducted, or is suffered 
to escape from it, according to the dryness of the 
season. When the root has acquired a sufficient 
size it is pulled up for immediate use. This cs- 

* Bougainville calls it "Calf-foot root." 



72 franchere's voyage. 

culent is very bad to eat raw, but boiled it is 
better than the yam. Cut in slices, dried, 
pounded and reduced to a farina, it forms with 
bread fruit the principal food of the natives. 
Sometimes they boil it to the consistence of por- 
ridge, which they put into gourds and allow to 
ferment ; it will then keep a long time. They 
also use to mix with it, fish, which they com- 
monly eat raw with the addition of a little salt, 
obtained by evaporation. 

The ava is a plant more injurious than useful 
to the inhabitants of these isles ; since they only 
make use of it to obtain a dangerous and intoxi- 
cating drink, which they also call nva. The 
mode of preparing this beverage is as follows : 
they chew the root, and spit out *6e result into a 
basin ; the juice thus expressed is exposed to the 
sun to undergo fermentation ; after which they 
decant it into a gourd ; it is then fit for use, and 
they drink it on occasions to intoxication. The 
too frequent use of tliis disgusting liquor causes 
loss of sight, and a sort of leprosy, which can 
only be cured by abstaining from it, and by 



THEIR CLOTHING. 73 

batliiug frequently in the water of the sea. This 
leprosy turns their skin white : we saw several 
of the lepers, who were also blind, or nearly so. 
The natives are also fond of smoking : the tobac- 
co 'grows in the islands, but I believe it has been 
introduced from abroad. The bark of the mul- 
berry furnishes the cloth worn by both sexes ; of 
the leaves of the pandanus they make mats. 
They have also a kind of wax-nut, about the size 
of a dried plum of which they make candles by 
running a stick through several of them. Light- 
ed at one end, they burn like a wax taper, and 
are the only light they use in their huts at night. 
The men are generally well made and tall : 
they wear for their entire clothing what they 
call a maro ; «it is a piece of figured or white 
tapa, two yards long and a foot wide, which they 
pass round the loins and between the legs, tying 
the ends in a knot over the left hip. At first 
sight I thought they were painted red, but soon 
perceived that it was the natural color of their 
skin. The women wear a petticoat of the same 

stuff as the maro^ but wider and longer, without, 
4 



74 franchere's voyage. 

however, reaching below the knees. They have 
sufficiently regular features, and but for the 
color, may pass, generally speaking, for hand- 
some women. Some to heighten their charms, 
dye their black hair (cut short for the purpose) 
with quick lime, forming round the head a strip 
of pure white, which disfigures them monstrously. 
Others among the young wear a more becoming 
garland of flowers. For other traits, they are 
very lascivious, and far from observing a modest 
reserve, especially toward strangers. In regard 
to articles of mere ornament, I was told that they 
were not the same in all the island. I did not 
see them, either, clothed in their war dresses, or 
habits of ceremony. But I had an opportunity 
to see them paint or print their ^apa, or bark 
cloth, an occupation in which they employ a 
great deal of care and patience. The pigments 
they use are derived from vegetable juices, pre- 
pared with the oil of the cocoa-nut. Their pen- 
cils are little reeds or canes of bamboo, at the 
extremity of which they carve out divers sorts 
of flowers. First they tinge the cloth they mean 



TAPA-PAINTING. 75 

to print, yellow, green, or some other color 
which forms the ground : then they draw upon 
it perfectly straight lines, without any other 
guide but the eye ; lastly they dip the ends of 
the bamboo sticks in paint of a diflFerent tint 
from the ground, and apply them between the 
dark or bright bars thus formed. This cloth 
resembles a good deal our calicoes and printed 
cottons ; the oils with which it is impregnated 
renders it impervious to water. It is said that 
the natives of Atowy excel all the other island- 
ers in the art of painting the tapa. 

The Sandwich-islanders live in villages of one 
or two hundred houses .arranged without sym- 
metry, or rather grouped together in complete 
defiance of it. These houses are constructed (as 
I have before said) of posts driven in the ground, 
covered with long dry grass, and walled with 
matting ; the thatched roof gives them a sort of 
resemblance to our Canadian barns or granges. 
The length of each house varies according to the 
number of the family which occupies it : they are 
not smoky like the wigwams of our Indians, the 



76 franchere's voyage. 

fireplace being always outside in the open air, 
where all the cooking is performed. Hence their 
dwellings are very clean and neat inside. 

Their pirogues or canoes are extremely light 
and neat : those which are single have an outrig- 
ger, consisting of two curved pieces of timber 
lashed across the bows, and touching the water 
at the distance of five or six feet from the side ; 
another piece, turned up at each extremity, is 
tied to the end and drags in tlic water, on which 
it acts like a skating iron on the ice, and by its 
weight keeps the canoe in equilibrium : without 
that contrivance they would infallibly upset. 
Their paddles are long, with a very broad blade. 
All these canoes carry a lateen, or sprit-sail, 
which is made of a mat of grass or leaves, ex- 
tremely well woven. 

I did not remain long enough with these peo- 
ple to acquire very extensive and exact notions 
of their religion : I know that they recognise a 
Supreme Being, whom they call Etoivay, and a 
number of inferior divinities. Each village has 
one or more morais. These morals arc enclo- 



TABOO — DRAUGHTS. 77 

sures which served for cemeteries ; in the middle 
is a temple, where the priests alone have a right 
to enter: they contain several idols of wood, 
rudely sculptured. At the feet of these images 
are deposited, and left to putrify, the offerings 
of the people, consisting of dogs, pigs, fowls, 
vegetables, &c. The respect of these savages 
for their priests extends almost to adoration ; 
they regard their persons as sacred, and feel the 
greatest scruple in touching the objects, or going 
near the places, which they have declared taboo 
or forbidden. The taboo has often been useful 
to European navigators, by freeing them from 
the importunities of the crowd. 

In our rambles we met groups playing at dif- 
ferent games. That of draughts appeared the 
most common. The checker-board is very sim- 
ple, the squares being marked on the ground 
with a sharp stick : the men are merely shells or 
pebbles. The game was different from that 
played in civilized countries, so that we could 
not understand it. 

Although nature has done almost everything 



78 franchere's voyage. 

for the inhabitants of the Sandwich islands — 
though they enjoy a perpetual spring, a clear 
sky, a salubrious climate, and scarcely any labor 
is required to produce the necessaries of life — 
they can not be regarded as generally happy : 
the artisans and producers, whom they call 
Tootoos, are nearly in the same situation as the 
Helots among the Lacedemonians, condemned to 
labor almost incessantly for their lord or Eris, 
without hope of bettering their condition, and 
even restricted in the choice of their daily food.* 
How lias it happened that among a people yet bar- 
barous, where knowledge is nearly equally distrib- 
uted, the class which is beyond comparison the 
most numerous has voluntarily submitted to such 
a humiliating and oppressive yoke ? The Tar- 
tars, though infinitely less numerous than the 
Chinese, have subjected them, because the former 
were warlike and the latter wore not. The 
same thing has happened, no doubt, at remote 

* The Tootoos and all the women, the wives of the king and 
principal chiefs excepted, are eternally condemned to the use of 
fiuits and vegetables ; dogs and pigs being exclusively reserved 
for the table of the Eria. 



SOCIAL STATE. 79 

periods, in Poland, and other regions of Europe 
and Asia. If moral causes are joined to physi- 
cal ones, the superiority of one caste and the 
inferiority of the other will be still more marked ; 
it is known that the natives of Hispaniola, when 
they saw the Spaniards arrive on their coast, in 
vessels of an astonishing size to their apprehen- 
sions, and heard them imitate the thunder with 
their cannon, took them for beings of a superior 
nature to their own. Supposing that this island 
had been extremely remote from every other 
country, and that the Spaniards, after conquer- 
ing it, had held no further communication with 
any civilized land, at the end of a century or 
two the language and the manners would have 
assimilated, but there would have been two 
castes, one of lords, enjoying all the advantages, 
the other of serfs, charged with all the burdens. 
This theory seems to have been realized anciently 
in Hindostan ; but if we must credit the tradi- 
tion of the Sandwich-islanders, their country was 
originally peopled by a man and woman, who 
came to Owyhee in a canoe. Unless, then, they 



80 franchere's voyage. 

mean that this man and woman came with their 
slaves, and that the Eris are descended from the 
first, and the Tootoos from tlie last, they ought 
to attribute to each other the same origin, and 
consequently regard each other as equals, and 
even as brothers, according to the manner of 
thinking that prevails among savages. The 
cause of the slavery of women among most bar- 
barous tribes, is more easily explained : the men 
have subjected them by the right of the strongest, 
if ignorance and superstition have not caused 
them to be previously regarded as beings of an 
inferior nature, made to be servants and not 
companions.* 

* Some Indian tribes think that women have no souls, but die 
altogether like the brutes ; others assign them a different para- 
dise from that of men, which indeed they miglit have reason to 
prefer for themselves, unless their relative condition were to be 
ameliorated in the next world. 



WEIGH ANCHOR. 81 



CHAPTER VI. 

Departure from Wahoo. — Storm. — Arrival at the Mouth of tho 
Columbia. — Reckless Order of the Captain. — Difficulty of the 
Entrance. — Perilous Situation of the Ship. — Unhappy Fate of 
a part of the Crew and People of the Expedition. 

Having taken on board a hundred head of live 
hogs, some goats, two sheep, a quantity of poul- 
try, two boat-loads of sugar-cane, to feed the 
hogs, as many more of yams, taro, and other 
vegetables, and all -our water-casks being snugly 
stowed, we weiglied anchor on the 28th of Feb- 
ruary, sixteen days after our arrival at Karakar 
koua. 

We left another man (Edward Aymes) at 
"Wahoo. He belonged to a boat's crew which 
was sent ashore for a load of sugar-canes. By 
the time the boat was loaded by the natives the 
ebb of the tide had left her aground, and Aymes 



82 franchere's voyage. 

asked leave of the coxswain to take a stroll, en- 
gaging to be back for the flood. Leave was 
granted him, but during his absence, the tide 
having come in sufficiently to float the boat, 
James Thorn, the coxswain, did not wait for the 
young sailor, who was thus left behind. The 
captain immediately missed the man, and, on 
being informed that he had strolled away from 
the boat on leave, flew into a violent passion. 
Aymes soon made his appearance alongside, 
having hired some natives to take him on board ; 
on perceiving him, the captain ordered him to 
stay in the long-boat, then lashed to the side with 
its load of sugar-cane. The captain then himself 
got into the boat, and, taking one of the canes, 
beat the poor fellow most unmercifully with it ; 
after which, not satisfied with this act of brutal- 
ity, he seized his victim and threw him over- 
board ! Aymes, however, being an excellent 
swimmer, made for the nearest native canoe, of 
which there were, as usual, a great number 
around the ship. The islanders, more humane 
than our captain, took in the poor fellow, who, 



NATIVE MALICE. 83 

in spite of his entreaties to be received on board, 
could only succeed in getting his clothes, which 
were thrown into the canoe. At parting, he told 
Captain Thorn that he knew enough of the laws 
of his country, to obtain redress, should they 
ever meet in the territory of the American Union. 
While we were getting under sail, Mr. M' Kay 
pointed out to the captain that there was one 
water-cask empty, and proposed sending it ashore 
to be filled, as the great number of live animals 
we had on board required a large quantity of 
fresh water. The captain, who feared that some 
of the men would desert if he sent them ashore, 
made an observation to that effect in answer to 
Mr. M' Kay, who then proposed sending me on a 
canoe which lay alongside, to fill the cask in 
question : this was agreed to by the captain, and 
I took the cask accordingly to the nearest spring. 
Having filled it, not without some difficulty, the 
islanders seeking to detain me, and I perceiving 
that they had given me some gourds full of salt 
water, I was forced also to demand a double 
pirogue (for the canoe which had brought the 



84 PRANCIIERE.'S VOYAGE. 

empty cask, was found inadequate to carry a full 
one), the ship being already under full sail and 
gaining an offing. As the natives would not lend 
a hand to procure what I wanted, I thought it 
necessary to have recourse to the king, and in 
fact did so. For seeing the vessel so far at sea, 
with what I knew of the captain's disposition, I 
began to fear that he had formed the plan of 
leaving me on the island. My fears, neverthe- 
less were ill-founded ; the vessel made a tack 
toward the shore, to my great joy ; and a double 
pirogue was furnished me, through the good 
offices of our young friend the French school- 
master, to return on board with my cask. 

Our deck was now as much encumbered as 
when we left New York ; for we had been obliged 
to place our live animals at the gangways, and 
to board over their pens, on which it was neces- 
sary to pass, to work ship. Our own numbers 
were also augmented ; for we had taken a dozen 
islanders for the service of our intended com- 
mercial establishment. Their term of engage- 
ment was three years, during which we were to 



A CxALE. 85 

feed and clothe them, and at its expiration they 
were to receive a hundred dollars in merchan- 
dise. The captain had shipped another dozen 
as hands on the coasting voj^age. These people, 
who make very good sailors, were eager to be 
taken into employment, and we might easily have 
carried off a much greater number. 

We had contrary winds till the 2d of March, 
when, having doubled the western extremity of 
the island, we made northing, and lost sight of 
these smiling and temperate countries, to enter 
very soon a colder region and less worthy of 
being inhabited. The winds were variable, and 
nothing extraordinary happened to us till the 
16th, when, being arrived at the latitude of 35° 
11' north, and in 138° 16' of west longitude, 
the wind shifted all of a sudden to the S. S. W., 
and blew with such violence, that we were forced 
to strike top-gallant masts and top-sails, and run 
before the gale with a double reef in our foresail. 
The rolling of the vessel was greater than in all 
the gales we had experienced previously. Nev- 
ertheless, as we made great headway, and were 



86 franchere's voyage. 

approaching the continent, tlie captain by way 
of precaution, lay to for two nights successively. 
At last, on the 22d, in the morning, we saw the 
land. Although we had not been able to take 
any observations for several days, nevertheless, 
by the appearance of the coast, we perceived that 
we were near the mouth of the river Columbia, 
and were not more than three miles from land. 
The breakers formed by the bar at the entrance 
of that river, and which we could distinguish 
from the ship, left us no room to doubt that we 
had arrived at last at the end of our voyage. 

The wind was blowing in heavy squalls, and 
the sea ran very high : in spite of that, the cap- 
tain caused a boat to be lowered, and Mr. Fox 
(first mate), Basile Lapensee, Ignace Lapensee, 
Jos. Nadeau, and Jolm Martin, got into her, 
taking some provisions and firearms, with orders 
to sound the channel and report themselves on 
board as soon as possible. The boat was not 
even supplied with a good sail, or a mast, but 
one of the partners gave Mr. Pox a pair of bed 
sheets to serve for the former. Messrs M'Kay 



CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT. 87 

and M'Dougall could not help remonstrating 
with the captain on the imprudence of sending 
the boat ashore in such weather ; but they could 
not move his obstinacy. The boat's crew pulled 
away from the ship ; alas ! we were never to see 
her again ; and we already liad a foreboding of 
her fate. The next day the wdnd seemed to 
moderate, and we approached very near the 
coast. The entrance of the river, which we 
plainly distinguished with the naked eye, ai> 
peared but a confused and agitated sea: the 
waves, impelled by a wind from the offing, broke 
upon the bar, and left no perceptible passage. 
We got no sign of the boat ; and toward evening, 
for our own safety, we hauled off to sea, with all 
countenances extremely sad, not excepting the 
captain's, who appeared to me as much afflicted as 
the rest, and who had reason to be so. During 
the night, the wind fell, the clouds dispersed, 
and the sky became serene. On the morning of 
the 24th, we fomid that the current had carried 
us near the coast again, and we dropped anchor 
in fourteen fathoms water, north of Cape Disap- 



88 . franchere's voyage. 

pointment. The coup d'oeil is not so smiling by 
a great deal at this anchorage, as at the Sand- 
wich islands, the coast offering little to the eye 
but a continuous range of higli mountains covered 
•with snow. 

Although it was calm, the sea continued to 
break over the reef with violence, between Cape 
Disappointment and Point Adams. We sent Mr. 
Mumford (the second mate) to sound a passage ; 
but having found the breakers too heavy, he re- 
turned on board about mid-day. Messrs. M'Kay 
and D. Stuart offered their services to go ashore, 
to search for the boat's crew who left on the 22d ; 
but they could not find a place to land. They 
saw Indians, who made signs to them to pull 
round the cape, but they deemed it more prudent 
to return to tlie vessel. Soon after their return, 
a gentle breeze sprang up from the westward, we 
raised anchor, and approached the entrance of 
the river. Mr. Aikin was then despatched in 
the pinnace, accompanied by John Coles (sail- 
maker), Stephen Weeks (armorer), and two 
Sandwich-islanders ; and we followed under easy 



CRITICAL SITUATION. 89 

sail. Another boat had been sent out before this 
one, but the captain judging that she bore too far 
south, made her a signal to return. Mr. Aikin 
not finding less than four fathoms, we followed him 
and advanced between the breakers, with a favora- 
ble wind, so that we passed the boat on oui' star- 
board, within pistol-shot. We made signs to her 
to return on board, but she could not accomplish 
it ; the ebb tide carried her with such rapidity 
that in a few minutes we had lost sight of her 
amidst the tremendous breakers that surrounded 
us. It was near nightfall, the wind began to give 
way, and the water was so low with the" ebb, that 
we struck six or seven times witli violence : the 
breakers broke over the ship and threatened to 
submerge her. At last we passed from two and 
three quarters fathoms of water to seven, where 
we were obliged to drop anchor, the wind having 
entirely failed us. We were far, however, from 
being out of danger, and the darkness came to 
add to the horror of our situation : our vessel, 
though at anchor,' threatened to be carried away 
every moment by the tide ; the best bower was 



90 franchere's voyage. 

let go, and it kept two men at the wheel to hold 
her head in the right direction. However, Prov- 
idence came to our succor : the flood succeeded 
to the ebb, and the wind rising out of the offing, 
we weighed both anchors, in spite of the .obscu- 
rity of the night, and succeeded in gaining a little 
bay or cove, formed at the entrance of the river 
by Cape Disappointment, and called Baker'' s Bay, 
where we found a good anchorage. It was about 
midnight, and all retired to take a little rest : 
the crew, above all, had great need of it. We 
were fortunate to be in a place of safety, for the 
wind rose higher and higher during the rest of 
the night, and on the morning of the 25th allowed 
us to see that this ocean is not always pacific. 

Some natives visited us this day, bringing with 
them beaver-skins ; but the inquietude caused in 
our minds by the loss of two boats' crews, for 
whom we wished to make search, did not permit 
us to think of traffic. "We tried to make the 
savages comprehend, by signs, that we had sent 
a boat ashore three days previous, and that we 
had no news of her; but they seemed not to 



STORY OP WEEKS. 91 

understand us. The captain, accompanied by 
some of our gentlemen, landed, and they set 
themselves to search for our missing people, in 
the woods, and along the shore N. "W. of the 
cape. After a few hours we saw the captain 
return with Weeks, one of the crew of the last 
boat sent out. He was stark naked, and after 
being clothed, and receiving some nourishment, 
gave us an accomit of his almost miraculous 
escape from the waves on the preceding night, 
in nearly the following terms : — 

"After you had passed our boat," said he, 
" the breakers caused by the meeting of the wind 
roll and ebb-tide, became a great deal heavier 
than when we entered the river with the flood. 
The boat, for want of a rudder, became very 
hard to manage, and we let her drift at the 
mercy of the tide, till, after having escaped sev- 
eral surges, one struck us midship and capsized 
us. I lost sight of Mr. Aiken and John Coles ; 
but the two islanders were close by me ; I saw 
them stripping off their clothes, and I followed 
their example ; and seeing the pinnace within 



92 franchere's voyage. 

ray reach, keel upward, I seized it ; the two na- 
tives came to my assistance ; we righted her, 
and by sudden jerks threw out so much of the 
water that she would hold a man : one of the 
natives jumped in, and, bailing with his two 
hands, succeeded in a short time in emptying 
her. The other native found the oars, and about 
dark we were all three embarked. The tide 
having now carried us outside the breakers, I 
endeavored to persuade my companions in mis- 
fortune to row, but they were so benumbed with 
cold that they absolutely refused. I well knew 
that without clothing, and exposed to the rigor 
of the air, I must keep in constant exercise. 
Seeing besides that the night was advancing, and 
having no resource but the little strength left 
me, I set to work sculling, and pushed off the 
bar, but so as not to be carried out too far to 
sea. About midnight, one of my companions 
died : the other threw himself upon the body of 
his comrade, and I could not persuade him to 
abandon it. Daylight appeared at last; and, 
being near the sliore, I headed in for it, and 



SEARCH. 93 

arrived, thank God, safe and sound, through the 
breakers, on a sandy beach. I helped the isl- 
ander, who yet gave some signs of life, to get out 
of the boat, and we both took to the woods ; but, 
seeing that he was not able to follow me, I left 
him to his bad fortmie, and, pursuing a beaten 
path that I perceived, I found myself, to my 
great astonishment, in the course of a few hours, 
near the vessel." 

The gentlemen who went ashore with the cap- 
tain divided themselves into three parties, to 
search for the native whom Weeks had left at the 
entrance of the forest ; but, after scouring the 
woods and the point of the cape all day, they 
came on board in the evening without having 
found him. 



94 franchere'r voyage. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Regrets of the Author at the Loss of his Companions. — Obse- 
quies of a Sandwich Islander. — First steps in the Formation 
of the intended Establishment. — New Alai-m. — Encamp- 
ment. 

The narrative of "Weeks informed us of the 
death of three of our companions, and we could 
not doubt that the five others had met a similar 
fate. This loss of eight of our number, in two 
days, before we had set foot on shore, was a bad 
augury, and was sensibly felt by all of us. In 
the course of so long a passage, the habit of see- 
ing each other every day, the participation of the 
same cares and dangers, and confinement to the 
same narrow limits, had formed between all the 
passengers a connection that could not be broken, 
above all in a manner so sad and so unlooked 
for, without making us feel a void like that 



THE LAPENSIE. 95 

which is experienced in a well-regulated and 
loving family, when it is suddenly deprived by 
death, of the presence of one of its cherished 
members. We had left New York, for the most 
part strangers to one another ; but arrived at the 
river Columbia we were all friends, and regard- 
ed each other almost as brothers. We regretted 
especially the two brothers Lapensee and Joseph 
Nadeau : these young men had been in an es- 
pecial manner recommended by their respectable 
parents in Canada to the care of Mr. M'Kay ; 
and had acquired by their good conduct the 
esteem of the captain, of the crow, and of all the 
passengers. The brothers Lapensee were cour- 
ageous and willing, never flinching in the hour of 
danger, and had become as good seamen as any 
on board. Messrs Fox and Aikin were both 
highly regarded by all ; the loss of Mr. Fox, 
above all, who was endeared to every one by his 
gentlemanly behavior and affability, would have 
been severely regretted at any time, but it was 
doubly so in the present conjmicture : this gentle- 
man, who had already made a voyage to the 



96 franchere's voyage. 

Northwest, could have rendered important ser- 
vices to the captain and to the company. The 
preceding days had been days of apprehension 
and of uneasiness ; this was one of sorrow and 
mourning. 

The following day, the same gentlemen who 
had volunteered their services to seek for the 
missing islander, resumed their labors, and very 
soon after they left us, we perceived a great fire 
kindled at the verge of the woods, over against 
the ship. I was sent in a boat and arrived at 
the fire. It was our gentlemen who had kindled 
it, to restore animation to the poor islander, 
whom they had at last found under the rocks, 
half dead with cold and fatigue, his legs swollen 
and his feet bleeding. We clothed him, and 
brought him on board, where, by our care, we 
succeeded in restoring him to life. 

Toward evening, a number of the Sandwich- 
islanders, provided with the necessary utensils, 
and ofi"erings consisting of biscuit, lard, and to- 
bacco, went ashore, to pay the last duties to their 
compatriot, who died in Mr. Aikin's boat, on the 



FUNERAL CEREMOXY. 97 

night of the 24th. Mr. Pillet and I went with 
them, and witnessed the obsequies, which took 
place in the manner following. Arrived at the 
spot where the body had been hung upon a tree 
to preserve it from the wolves, the natives dug a 
grave in the sand ; then taking down the body, 
and stretching it alongside the pit, they placed 
the biscuit under one of the arms, a piece of pork 
beneath the other, and the tobacco beneath the 
chin and the genital parts. Thus provided for 
the journey to the other world, the body was de- 
posited in the grave and covered with sand and 
stones. All the countrymen of the dead man 
then knelt on either side of the grave, in a double 
row, with their faces to the east, except one of 
them who officiated as priest ; the latter went to 
the margin of the sea, and having filled his hat 
with water, sprinkled the two rows of islanders, 
and recited a sort of prayer, to which the others 
responded, nearly as we do in the litanies. That 
prayer ended, they rose and returned to the ves- 
sel, looking neither to the right hand nor to the 

left. As every one of them appeared to me fa- 
. ^ 5 



98 franchere's voyage. 

miliar with the part he performed, it is more than 
probable that they observed, as far as circum- 
stances permitted, the ceremonies practised in 
their country on like occasions. "We all returned 
on board about sundown. 

The next day, the 27th, desirous of clearing 
the gangways of the live stock, we sent some 
men on shore to construct a pen, and soon after 
landed about fifty hogs, committing them to the 
care of one of the hands. On the 30th, the long 
boat was manned, armed and provisioned, and 
the captain, with Messrs. M'Kay and D. Stuart, 
and some of the clerks, embarked on it, to ascend 
the river and choose an eligible spot for our tra- 
ding establishment. Messrs. Ross and Fillet left 
at the same time, to run down south, and try to 
obtain intelligence of Mr. Fox and his crew. In 
the meantime, having reached some of the goods 
most at hand, we commenced, with the natives 
who came every day to the vessel, a trade for 
beaver-skins, and sea-otter stones. 
. Messrs. Ross and Fillet returned on board on 
the Ist of April, without having learned anything 



. ALARMING EEPORT. 99 

respecting Mr. Pox and his party. They did not 
even perceive . along the i)each any vestiges of 
the boat. The natives who occupy Point Adams^ 
and who are called Clatsops, received our young 
gentlemen very amicably and hospitably. The 
captain and his companions also returned on the 
4th, without having decided on a position for the 
establishment, finding none which appeared to 
them eligible. It was consequently resolved to 
explore the south bank, and Messrs. M'Dougal 
and D. Stuart departed on that expedition the 
next day, promising to return by the 7th. 

The 7th came, and these gentlemen did not 
return. It rained almost all day, The day 
after, some natives came on board, and reported 
that Messrs. M'Dougal and Stuart had capsized 
the evening before in crossing the bay. This 
news at first alarmed us ; and, if it had been 
verified, would have given the finishing blow to 
our discouragement. Still, as the weather was 
excessively bad, and we did not repose entire 
faith in the story of the natives — whom, more- 
over, we might not have perfectly understood — 



100 francherk's voyage. 

we remained in suspense till the 10th. On the 
morning of that day, we were preparing to send 
some of the people in search of our two gen- 
tlemen, when we perceived two large canoes, 
full of Indians, coming toward the vessel : they 
were of the Chinook village, which was situated 
at the foot of a bluff on the north side of the 
river, and were bringing back Messrs. M'Dougal 
and Stuart. We made known to these gentle- 
men the report we had heard on the 8th from 
the natives, and they informed us that it had 
been in fact well founded ; that on the 7th, de- 
sirous of reaching the ship agreeably to their 
promise, they had quitted Chinook point, in spite 
of the remonstrances of the chief, Comcomly, 
who sought to detain them by pointing out the 
danger to which they would expose themselves 
in crossing the bay in such a heavy sea as it 
was ; that they had scarcely made more than a 
mile and a half before a huge wave broke over 
their boat and capsized it ; that the Indians, 
aware of the danger to which they were exposed, 
had followed them, and that, but for their assist- 



HUMANE NATIVES. 101 

ance, Mr. M'Dougal, who could not swim, would 
inevitably have been drowned ; that, after the 
Chinooks had kindled a large fire and dried 
their clothes, they had been conducted by them 
back to their village, where the principal chief 
had received them with all imaginable hospital- 
ity, regaling them with every delicacy his wig- 
wam afforded ; that, in fine, if they had got back 
safe and sound to the vessel, it was to the timely 
succor and humane cares of the Indians whom we 
saw before us that they owed it. We liberally 
rewarded these generous children of the forest, 
and they returned home well satisfied. 

This last survey was also fruitless, as Messrs. 
M'Dougal and Stuart did not find an advan- 
tageous site to build upon. But, as the captain 
wished to take advantage of the fine season to 
pursue his trafiic with the natives along the 
N. W. coast, it was resolved to establish our- 
selves on Point George^ situated on the south 
bank, about fourteen or fifteen miles from our 
present anchorage. Accordingly, we embarked 
on the 12th, in the long-boat, to the number of 



102 franchere's voyage. 

twelve, furnished with tools, and with provisions 
for a week. We landed at the bottom of a small 
bay, where we formed a sort of encampment. 
The spring, usually so tardy in this latitude, was 
already far advanced ; the foliage was budding, 
and the earth was clothing itself with verdure ; 
the weather was superb, and all nature smiled. 
"We imagined ourselves in the garden of Eden ; 
the wild forests seemed to us delightful groves, 
and the leaves transformed to brilliant flowers. 
No doubt, the pleasure of finding ourselves at 
the end of our voyage, and liberated from the 
ship, made things appear to us a great deal more 
beautiful than they really were. Be that as it 
may, we set ourselves to work with enthusiasm, 
and cleared, in a few days, a point of land of its 
under-brush, and of the huge trunks of pine-trees 
that covered it, which we rolled, half-burnt, down 
the bank. The vessel came to moor near our 
encampment, and the trade went on. The na- 
tives visited us constantly and in great numbers ; 
some to trade, others to gratify their curiosity, 
or to purloin some little articles if they found 



OUR SCHOONER. 103 

an opportunity. We landed the frame timbers 
which we had brought, ready cut for the pur- 
pose, in the vessel ; and by the end of April, 
wdth the aid of the ship-carpenters, John Weeks 
and Johann Koaster, we had laid the keel of a 
coasting-schooner of about thirty tons. 



lOi FRANCHERF/S VOYAGE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Voyage up the River. — Descrijition of the Countn'. — Meeting 
with strange Indians. 

The Indians having informed us that above 
certain rapids, there was an establishment of 
white men, we doubted not that it was a trading 
post of the Northwest Company ; and to make 
sure of it, we procured a large canoe and a guide, 
and set out, on the 2d of May, Messrs M'Kay, 
R. Stuart, Montigny, and I, with a sufficient 
number of hands. We first passed a lofty head- 
land, that seemed at a distance to be detached 
from the main, and to which we gave the name 
of Tongue Point. Here the river gains a width 
of some nine or ten miles, and keeps it for about ' 
twelve miles up. The left bank, which wc were 
coasting, being concealed by little low islands, 



SCENERY. 105 

•we encamped for the night on one of them, at the 
village of Wahkaykuni, to which our guide be- 
longed. 

We continued our journey on the 3d : the river 
narrows considerably, at about thirty miles from 
its mouth, and is obstructed with islands, which 
are thickly covered with the willow, poplar, al- 
der, and ash. These islands are, without excep- 
tion, uninhabited and uninhabitable, being nothing 
but swamps, and entirely overflowed in the 
months of June and July ; as we understood from 
Coalpo, our guide, who appeared to be an intel- 
ligent man. In proportion as we advanced, we 
saw the high mountains capped with snow, which 
form the chief and majestic feature, though a 
stern one, of the banks of the Columbia for some 
distance from its mouth, recede, and give place 
to a country of moderate elevation, and rising am- 
phi theatrically from the margin of the stream. 
The river narrows to a mile or thereabouts ; the 
forest is less dense, and patches of green prairie 
are seen. We passed a large village on the south 
bank, called Kreluit, above which is a fine forest 



106 francheee's voyage. 

of oaks ; and encamped for the night, on a lo'W 
point, at the foot of an isolated rock, about one 
hundred and fifty feet high. This rock appeared 
to me remarkable on account of its situation, re- 
posing in the midst of a low and swampy ground, 
as if it had been dropped from the clouds, and 
seeming to have no connection with the neigh- 
boring mountains. On a cornice or shelving pro- 
jection about thirty foot from its -base, the na- 
tives of the adjacent villages deposite their dead, 
in canoes ; and it is the same rock to which, for 
this reason. Lieutenant Broughton gave the name 
of Mount Coffin. 

On the 4 th, in the morning, we arrived at a 
large village of the same name as that which we 
had passed the evening before, Kreluit, and we 
landed to obtain information respecting a con- 
siderable stream, which here discharges into the 
Columbia, and respecting its resources for the 
hunter and trader in furs. It comes from the 
north, and is called Coivlitzk by the natives. 
Mr. M'Kay embarked with Mr. de Montigny and 
two Indians, in a small canoe, to examine the 



WAR-CANOES. 107 

course of this river, a certain distance up. On 
entering the stream, they saw a great number of 
birds, which they took at first for turkeys, so 
mucli tliey resembled them, but which were only 
a kind of carrion eagles, vulgarly called turkey- 
buzzards. "We were not a little astonished to 
see Mr. de Montigny return on foot and alone ; 
he soon informed us of the reason : having as- 
cended the Kowlitzk about a mile and a half, on 
rounding a bend of the stream, they suddenly 
came in view of about twenty canoes, full of In- 
dians, who had made a rush upon them with the 
most frightful yells ; the two natives and the 
guide who conducted their little canoe, retreated 
with the utmost precipitancy, but seeing that they 
would be overtaken, they stopped short, and beg- 
ged Mr. M'Kay to fire upon the approaching 
savages, which he, being well acquainted with 
the Indian character from the time he accompa- 
nied Sir Alexander M'Kenzie, and having met 
with similar occurrences before, would by no 
means do ; but displayed a friendly sign to the 
astonished natives, and invited them to land for 



108 fraxchere's voyage. 

an amicable talk ; to which they immediately as- 
sented. Mr. M'Kay had sent Mr. de Montigny 
to procure some tobacco and a pipe, in order to 
strike a peace with these barbarians. The latter 
then returned to Mr. M'Kay, with the necessary 
articles, and in the evening the party came back 
to our camp, which we had fixed between the 
villages. We were then informed that the In- 
dians whom Mr. M'Kay had met, were at war 
with the Kreluits. It was impossible, conse- 
quently, to close our eyes all night ; tlie natives 
passing and repassing continually from one vil- 
lage to the other, making fearful cries, and 
coming every minute to solicit us to discharge 
our firearms ; all to frighten their enemies, and 
let them see that they were on their guard. 

On the 5th, in the morning, we paid a visit to 
the hostile camp ; and those savages, who had 
never seen white men, regarded us with curiosity 
and astonishment, lifting the legs of our trowsers 
and opening our shirts, to see if the skin of our 
bodies resembled that of our faces and hands. 
We remained some time with them, to make pro- 



MOUNT ST. Helen's. 109 

posals of peace ; and having ascertained that this 
warlike demonstration originated in a trifling 
offence on the part of the Kreluits, we found them 
well disposed to arrange matters in an amica- 
ble fashion. After having given them, therefore, 
some looking-glasses, beads, knives, tobacco, 
and other trifles, we quitted them and pursued 
our way. 

Having passed a deserted village, and then 
several islands, we came in sight of a noble 
mountain on the north, about twenty miles dis- 
tant, all covered with snow, contrasting remark- 
ably with the dark foliage of the forests at its 
base, and probably the same which was seen by 
Broughton, and named by him Mount St. Helen's. 
We pulled against a strong current all this day, 
and at evening our guide made us enter a little 
river, on the bank of which we found a good 
camping place, under a grove of oaks, and in the 
midst of odoriferous wild flowers, where we 
passed a night more tranquil than that which had 
preceded it. 

On the morning of the 6th we ascended this small 



JIO franchere's voyage. 

stream, and soon arrived at a large village called 
Thlakalamah, the chief whereof, who was a young 
and handsome man, was called Keasseno, and was 
a relative of our guide. The situation of this vil- 
lage is the most charming that can be, being built 
on the little river that we had ascended, and 
indeed at its navigable head, being here but a 
torrent with numerous cascades leaping from rock 
to rock in their descent to the deep, limpid water, 
which then flows through a beautiful prairie, en- 
amelled with odorous flowers of all colors, and 
studded with superb groves of oak. The fresh- 
ness and beauty of this spot, which Nature seemed 
to have taken pleasure in adorning and enriching 
with her most precious gifts, contrasted, in a 
striking manner, with the indigence and unclean- 
liness of its inhabitants ; and I regretted that it 
had not fallen to the lot of ci^dlized men. I was 
wrong no doubt : it is just that those should be 
most favored by their common mother, who are 
least disposed to pervert her gifts, or to give the 
preference to advantages which are factitious, 
and often very frivolous. We quitted wita re- 



THE WILLAMET. Ill 

gret this charming spot, and soon came to another 
large village, which our guide informed us was 
called Kathlapootle, and was situated at the con- 
fluence of a small stream, that seemed to flow 
down from the mountain covered with snow, 
which we had seen the day before : this river is 
called Cowilkt. We coasted a pretty island, 
well timbered, and high enough above the level 
of the Columbia to escape inundation in the 
freshets, and arrived at two villages called Malt- 
nabah. We then passed the confluence of the 
river Wallamat, or Willamet, above which the 
tide ceases to be felt in the Columbia. Our 
guide informed us that ascending this river about 
a day's journey, there was a considerable fall, 
beyond which the country abounded in deer, elk, 
bear, beaver, and otter. But here, at the spot 
where we were, the oaks and poplar which line 
both banks of the river, the green and flowery 
prairies discerned through the trees, and the 
mountains discovered in the distance, offer to the 
eye of the observer who loves the beauties of 
simple nature, a prospect the most lovely and 



112 franchere's voyage. 

enchanting. We encamped for the night on the- 
edge of one of these fine prairies. 

On the 7th we passed several low islands, and 
soon discovered Mount Hood, a high mountain, 
capped with snow, so named by Lieutenant 
Broughton ; and Mount Washington, another 
snowy summit, so called by Lewis and Clarke. 
The prospect which the former had before his 
eyes at this place, appeared to him so charming, 
that landing upon a point, to take possession of 
the country in the name of King George, he 
named it Pointe Belle Vice. At two o'clock we 
passed Point Vancouver, the highest reached by 
Broughton. The width of the river diminishes 
considerably above this point, and we began very 
soon to encounter shoals of sand and gravel ; a 
sure indication that we were nearing the rapids. 
We encamped that evening under a ledge of rocks, 
descending almost to the water's edge. 

The next day, the 8th, we did not proceed far 
before we encountered a very rapid current. 
Soon after, we saw a hut of Indians engaged in 
fishing, where we stopped to breakfast. We 



ACCOUNT OF SPANIARDS. 113 

found here an old blind man, who gave us a cor- 
dial reception. Our guide said that he was a 
white man, and tliat his name was 8oto. Wo 
learned from the mouth of the old man himself, 
that he was the son of a Spaniard who had been 
wrecked at the mouth of the river ; that a part 
of the crew on this occasion got safe ashore, l)ut 
were all massacred by the Clatsops, with the ex- 
ception of four, who were spared and who mar- 
ried native women ; that these four Spaniards, 
of whom his father was one, disgusted with the 
savage life, attempted to reach a settlement of 
their own nation toward the south, but had never 
been heard of since ; and that when his father, 
with his companions, left the country, he himself 
was yet quite young.* These good people having 
regaled us with fresh salmon, we left them, and 
ai^rived very soon at a rapid, opposite an island, 
named Strav}herrij Island by Captains Lewis and 

* These facts, if they were authenticated, would prove that the 
Spaniards were the first who discovered the mouth of the Colum- 
bia. It is certain that long before the voyages of Captains Gray 
and Vancouver, they knew at least a part of the course of that 
river, which was designated ia their maps under the name of 
Oregon. 



114 franchere's voyage. 

Clarke, in 1806. We left oiu* men at a large 
village, to take care of the canoe and baggage ; 
and following our guide, after walking about two 
hours, in a beaten path, we came to the foot of 
the fall, where we amused ourselves for some 
time with shooting the seals, which were here in 
abundance, and in watching the Indians taking 
salmon below the cataract, in their scoop-nets, 
from stages erected for that purpose over the ed- 
dies. A chief, a young man of fine person and 
a good mien, came to us, followed by some twenty 
others, and invited us to his wigwam : we accom- 
panied him, had roasted salmon for supper, and 
some mats were spread for our night's repose. 

The next morning, having ascertained that 
there was no trading post near the Falls, and 
Coalpo absolutely refusing to proceed further, 
alleging that the natives of the villages beyond 
were his enemies, and would not fail to kill him 
if they had him in their power, we decided to 
return to the encampment. Having, therefore, 
distributed some presents to our host (I mean the 
young chief with whom we had supped and lodged) 



RETURN. 115 

and to some of his followers, and procured a sup- 
ply of fresh salmon for the return voyage, we re- 
embarked and reached the camp on the 14th, 
without accidents or incidents worth relating-. 



116 franchere's voyage. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Departure of the Tonquin. — Indian Messeng-ers. — Project of an 
Expedition to the Interior. — Arrival of Mr. Daniel Thompson. — 
Departure of the Expedition. — Designs upon us by the Natives. 
— Rumors of the Destruction of the Tonquin. — Scarcity of 
Provisions. — Nairative of a strange Indian. — Duplicity and 
Cunning of Comcomly. 

Having built a warehouse (62 feet by 20) to 
put under cover the articles "we were to receive 
from the ship, we were busily occupied, from the 
16th to the 30th, in stowing away the goods and 
other effects intended for the establishment. 

The ship, which had been detained by circum- 
stances, much longer than had been anticipated, 
left her anchorage at last, on the 1st of June, 
and dropped down to Baker's bay, there to wait 
for a favorable wind to get out of the river. As 
she was to coast along the north, and enter all 
the harbors, in order to procure as many furs as 



MY GOOD FORTUNE. 117 

l^ossible, and to touch at the Columbia river be- 
fore she finally left these seas for the United 
States, it was unanimously resolved among the 
partners, that Mr. M'Kay should join the cruise, 
as well to aid the captain, as to obtain correct 
information in regard to the commerce with the 
natives on that coast. Mr. M'Kay selected 
Messrs. J. Lewis and 0. de Montigny to accom- 
pany him ; but the latter having represented 
that the sea made him sick, was excused ; and 
Mr. M'Kay shipped in his place a young man 
-named Louis Brusle,to serve him in the capacity 
of domestic, being one of the young Canadian 
sailors. I had the good fortune not to be chosen 
for this disastrous voyage, thanks to my having 
made myself useful at the establishment. Mr. 
Mumford (the second mate) owed the same hap- 
piness to the incompatibility of his disposition 
with that of the captain ; he had permission to 
remain, and engaged with the company in place 
of Mr. Aikin as coaster, and in command of the 
schooner.* 

* This schooner was found too small for the purpose. Mr. 
Aster had no idea of the dangers to be met at the mouth of the 



118 francheee's voyage. 

On the 5th of June, the ship got out to sea, 
with a good wind. We continued in the mean- 
time to labor without intermission at the comple- 
tion of the storehouse, and in the erection of a 
dwelling for ourselves, and a powder magazine. 
These buildings were constructed of hewn logs, 
and, in the absence of boards, tightly covered 
and roofed with cedar bark. The natives, of 
both sexes, visited us more frequently, and 
formed a pretty coiisiderable camp near the es- 
tablishment. 

On the 15th, some natives from up the river, 
brought us two strange Indians, a man and a 
woman. They were not attired like the savages 
on the river Columbia, but wore long robes of 
dressed deer-skin, with leggings and moccasins 
in the fashion of the tribes to the east of the 
Rocky Mountains. We put questions to them in 
various Indian dialects ; but they did not under- 
stand us. They showed us a letter addressed to 

Columbia, or he would have ordered the frame of a vessel of at 
least one hundred tons. The frames shipped in New York were 
used in the construction of this one only, which was employed 
Bolely in the river trade. 



STRANGE INDIANS.. 119 

" Mr. John Stuart, Fort Estekatadene, Neio Cal- 
edonia.'' Mr. Pillet tlicu addressing them in the 
Knisteneaux language, they answered, although 
they appeared not to understand it perfectly. 
Notwithstanding, we learned from them that they 
had been sent by a Mr. Finnan M'Donald, a 
clerk in the service of the Northwest Company, 
and who had a post on a river which they called 
Spokaii; that having lost their way, they had 
followed the course of the Taconsah- Tesseh (the 
Indian name of the Columbia), that when they 
arrived at the Falls, the natives made them un- 
derstand that there were white men at the mouth 
of the river ; and not doujjting that the person 
to whom the letter was addressed would be found 
there, they had come to deliver it. 

We kept these messengers for some days, and 
having drawn from them important information 
respecting the country in the interior, west of the 
Mountains, we decided to send an expedition 
thither, under the command of Mr. David Stuart ; 
and the 15th July was fixed for its departure. 

All was in fact ready on the appointed day, 



120 franchere's voyage. 

and we were about to load the canoes, when 
toward midday, we saw a large canoe, with a flag 
displayed at her stern, rounding the point which 
we called Tongue Point. We knew not who it 
could 1)0 ; for we did not so soon expect our own 
party, who (as the reader will remember) were 
to cross the continent, by the route which Cap- 
tains Lewis and Clarke had followed, in 1805, 
and to winter for that purpose somewhere on the 
Missouri. "We were soon relieved of our uncer- 
tainty by the arrival of the canoe, which touched 
shore at a little wharf that we had built to facili- 
tate the landing of goods from the vessel. The 
flag she bore was the British, and her crew was 
composed of eight Canadian boatmen or voya- 
geurs. A well-dressed man, who appeared to 
be the commander, was the first to leap ashore, 
and addressing us without ceremony, said that 
his name was David Thompson, and that he was 
one of the partners of the Northwest Company. 
We invited him to our quarters, which were at 
one end of the warehouse, the dwelling-house 
not being yet completed. After the usual civili- 



MR. THOMPSON. 121 

ties had been extended to our visitor, Mr. Thomp- 
son said that he had crossed the continent during 
the preceding season ; but that the desertion of 
a portion of his men had compelled him to win- 
ter at the base of the Rocky mountains, at the 
head waters of the Columbia. In the spring he 
had built a canoe, the materials for which he had 
brought with him across the mountains, and had 
come down the river to our establishment. He 
added that the wintering partners had resolved 
to abandon all their trading posts west of the 
mountains, not to enter into competition with us, 
provided our company would engage not to en- 
croach upon their commerce on the cast side : 
and to support what he said, produced a letter 
to that effect, addressed by the wintering part- 
ners to the chief of their house in Canada, the 
Hon. William M'Gillivray. 

Mr. Thompson kept a regular journal, and 
travelled, I thought, more like a geographer than 
a fur-trader. He was pro^■ided with a sextant, 
chronometer and barometer, and during a week's 
sojourn which he made at our place, had an op- 



122 franchere's voyage. 

portunity to make several astronomical observar 
tions. He recognised the two Indians who had 
brought the letter addressed to Mr. J. Stuart, 
and told us that they were two women, one of 
whom had dressed herself as a man, to travel 
with more security. The description which he 
gave us of the interior of the country was not 
calculated to give us a very favorable idea of it, 
and did not perfectly accord with that of our 
two Indian guests. "We persevered, however, in 
the resolution we had taken, of sending an ex- 
pedition thither ; and, on the 23d Mr. D. Stuart 
set out, accompanied by Messrs. Pillet, Ross, 
M'Clellan and de Montigny, with four Canadian 
voyageurs^ and the two Lidian women, and in 
company with Mr. Thompson and his crew. The 
wind being favorable, the little flotilla hoisted 
sail, and was soon out of our sight.* 

'* Mr. Thompson had no doubt been sent by the agents of the 
Northwest Company, to take possession of an eligible spot at the 
mouth of the Columbia, with a view of forestalling the plan of 
Mr. Astor. He would have been there before us, no doubt, but 
for the desertion of his men. The consequence of this step woulil 
have been his taking pos.srssion of the countiT, and displaying 
the British flag, as an emblem of that possession and a guarantee 



WE FOETIFY OURSELVES. 123 

The natives, who till then had surrounded us 
in great numbers, began to withdraw, and very- 
soon we saw no more of them. At first we at- 
tributed their absence to the want of furs to trade 
with ; but we soon learned that they acted in that 
manner from another motive. One of the sec- 
ondary chiefs who had formed a friendship for 
Mr. R. Stuart, informed him, that seeing us re- 
duced m number by the expedition lately sent 
oif, they had formed the design of surprising us, 
to take our lives and plunder the post. "We 
hastened, therefore, to put ourselves in the best 
possible state of defence. The dwelling house 
was raised, parallel to the warehouse ; we cut a 
great quantity of pickets in the forest, and form- 
ed a square, with palisades in front and rear, of 
about 90 feet by 120 ; the warehouse, built on 
the edge of a ravine, formed one flank, the dwel- 
ling house and shops the other ; with a little bas- 

of protection hereafter. He found himself too late, however, and 
the stars and stripes floating over Astoria. This note is not in- 
tended by the author as an after-thought : as the opinion it con- 
veys was that which we all entertained at the time of that gentle- 
man's visit. 



124 franchere's voyage. 

tion at each angle north and south, on which 
were mounted four small cannon. The whole 
was finished in six days, and had a sufficiently 
formidable aspect to deter the Indians from atr 
tacking us ; and for greater surety, we organized 
a guard for day and night. 

Toward the end of the month, a large assem- 
blage of Indians from the neighborhood of the 
straits Juan de Fuca, and G-ray^s Harbor, formed 
a great camp on Baker's Bay, for the ostensible 
object of fishing for sturgeon. It was bruited 
among these Indians that the Tonquin had been de- 
stroyed on the coast, and Mr. M'Kay (or the chief 
trader, as they called him) and all the crew, mas- 
sacred by the natives. We did not give credence 
to this rumor. Some days after, other Indians 
from Gray's Harbor, called Tchikei/lis, confirmed 
what the first had narrated, and even gave us, 
as far as we could judge by the little we knew 
of their language, a very circumstantial detail 
of the affair, so that without wholly convincing 
us, it did not fail to make a painful impression 
on our minds, and keep us in an excited state of 



SCARCITY OF FOOD. 125 

feeling as to the truth of the report. The In- 
dians of the Bay looked fiercer and more warlike 
than those of our neighborhood ; so we redoubled 
our vigilance, and performed a regular daily drill 
to accustom ourselves to the use of arms. 

To the necessity of securing ourselves against 
an attack on the part of the natives, was joined 
that of obtaining a stock of provisions for the 
winter: those which we had received from the 
vessel were very quickly exhausted, and from the 
commencement of the month of July we were 
forced to depend upon fish. Not having brought 
hunters with us, we had to rely for venison, on 
the precarious hunt of one of the natives who had 
not abandoned us when the rest of his country- 
men retired. This man brought us from time to 
time, a very lean and very dry doe-elk, for which 
we had to pay, notwithstanding, very dear. The 
ordinary price of a stag was a blanket, a knife, 
some tobacco, powder and ball, besides supplying 
our hunter with a musket. This dry meat, and 
smoke-dried fish, constituted our daily food, and 
that in very insufficient quantity for hardworking 



126 franchere's voyage. 

men. "We had no bread, and yegetables, of 
course, were quite out of the question. In a 
word our fare was not sumptuous. Those who 
accommodated themselves best to our mode of 
living were the Sandwich-islanders : salmon and 
elk were to them exquisite viands. 

On the 11th of August a number of Chinooks 
visited us, bringing a strange Indian, who had, 
they said, something interesting to communicate. 
This savage told us, in fact, that he had been en- 
gaged with ten more of his countrymen, by a 
Captain Ai/res, to hunt seals on the islands in 
Sir Francis Drake^s Bay, where these animals 
are very numerous, with a j^romise of being taken 
home and paid for their services ; the captain 
had left them on the islands, to go southwardly 
and purchase provisions, he said, of the Spaniards 
of Monterey in California ; but he had never re- 
turned : and they, believing that he had been 
wrecked, had embarked in a skiff which he had 
left them, and had reached the main land, from 
which they were not far distant ; but their ^skiff 
was shattered to pieces in the surf, and they had 



comcomly's sore throat. 127 

saved themselves by swimming-. Believing that 
they were not far from the river Columbia, they 
had followed the shore, living, on the way, upon 
shell-fish and frogs ; at last they arrived among 
strange Indians, who, far from receiving them 
kindly, had killed eight of them and made the 
rest prisoners ; but the Klemooks, a neighboring 
tribe to the Clatsops, hearing that they were cap- 
tives, had ransomed them. 

These facts must have occurred in March or 
April, 1811. The Indian who gave us an account 
of them, appeared to have a great deal of intelli- 
gence and knew some words of the English lan- 
guage. He added that he had been at the Rus- 
sian trading post at Chitka, that he had visited 
the coast of California, the Sandwich islands, and 
even China. 

About this time, old Comcomly sent to Astoria 
for Mr. Stuart and me, to come and cure him of 
a swelled throat, which, he said, afflicted him 
sorely. As it was late in the day, we postponed 
till to-morrow going to cure the chief of the Chi- 
nooks ; and it Avas well we did ; for, the same 



128 franchere's voyage. 

evening, the wife of the Indian who had accom- 
panied us in our voyage to the Falls, sent us word 
that Comcomly was perfectly well, the pretended 
tonsillitis being only a pretext to get us in his 
power. This timely advice kept us at home. 



J 



OUR DWELLING-HOUSE. 129 



CHAPTER X. 

Occupations at Astoria. — Return of a Portion of the Men of the 
Expedition to the Interior. — Now Expedition. — Excursion in 
Search of three Deserters. 

On the 26th of September our house was fin- 
ished, and we took possession of it. The mason 
work had at first caused us some difficulty ; but 
at last, not being able to make lime for want of 
lime-stones, we employed blue clay as a substitute 
for mortar. This dwelling-house was sufficiently 
spacious to hold all our company, and we had 
distributed it in the most convenient manner 
that we could. It comprised a sitting, a dining 
room, some lodging or sleeping rooms, and an 
apartment for the men and artificers, all under 
the same roof. We also completed a shop for 
th^ blacksmith, who till that time had worked in 

the open air. 

6* 



130 franchere's voyage. 

The schooner, the construciion of which had 
necessarily languished for want of an adequate 
force at the ship-yard, was finally launched on 
the 2d of October, and named the Dolly ^ with 
the formalities usual on such occasions. I was 
on that day at Young'' s Bay, where I saw the 
ruins of the quarters erected by Captains Lewis 
and Clarke, in 1805-'06 : they were but piles of 
rough, unhewn logs, overgrown with parasite 
creepers. 

On the evening of the 5th, Messrs. Pillet and 
M'Lellan arrived, from the party of Mr. David 
Stuart, in a canoe manned by two of his men. 
They brought, as passengers, Mr, Regis Bruguier, 
whom I had known in Canada as a respectable 
country merchant, and an Iroquois family. Mr. 
Bruguier had been a trader among the Indians 
on the Saskatchewine river, where he had lost 
his outfit : he had since turned trapper, and had 
come into this region to hunt beaver, being pro- 
vided with traps and other needful implements. 
The report which these gentlemen gave of the in- 
terior was highly satisfactory: they had found 



THE OKENAKAN. 131 

the climate salubrious, and had been well re- 
ceived by the natives. The latter possessed a 
great number of horses, and Mr. Stuart had pur- 
chased several of these animals at a low price. 
Ascending the river they had come to a pretty 
stream, which the natives called Okenakan. Mr. 
Stuart had resolved to establish his post on 
the bank of this river, and having erected a log- 
house, he thought best to send back the abovQ 
named persons, retaining with him, for the winter, 
only Messrs. Ross and de Montigny, and two 
men.* 

Meanwhile, the season being come when the 
Indians quit the seashore and the banks of the 
Columbia, to retire into the woods and establish 
their winter quarters along the small streams and 
rivers, we began to find ourselves short of pro- 
visions, having received no supplies from them 
for some time. It was therefore determined that 
Mr. R. Stuart should set out in the schooner with 



* One of these men had been left with him by Mr. Thompson, 
in exchange for a Sandwich-islander whom that gentleman pro- 
posed to take to Canada, and the'ice to England. 



132 feanchere's voyage. 

Mr. Mumford, for the threefold purpose, of ob- 
taining all the provisions they could, cutting- 
oaken staves for the use of the cooper, and tra- 
ding with the Indians up the river. They left 
with this design on the 12th. At the end of five 
days Mr. Mumford returned in a canoe of Indians. 
This man having wished to assume the command, 
and to order (in the style of Captain Thorn) the 
person who had engaged him to obey, had been 
sent back in consequence to Astoria. 

On the 10th of November we discovered that 
three of our people had absconded, viz., P. D. 
Jeremie, and the two Belleaux. They had leave 
to go out shooting for two days, and carried off 
with them firearms and ammunition, and a hand- 
some light Indian canoe. As soon as their flight 
was known, having procured a large canoe of the 
Chinooks, we embarked, Mr. Matthews and I, with 
five natives, to pursue them, with orders to pro- 
ceed as far as the Falls, if necessary. On the 
11th, having ascended the river to a place called 
Oak Point, we overtook the schooner lying at 
anchor, while Mr. Stuart was taking in a load of 



OLTR SEARCH. 



133 



staves and hoop-poles. Mr. Farnliam joined our 
party, as well as one of the hands, and thus re- 
inforced, we pursued our way, journeying day 
and night, and stopping at every Indian village, 
to make inquiries and offer a reward for the ap- 
prehension of our runaways. Having reached 
the Falls without finding any trace of them, and 
our provisions giving out, we retraced our steps, 
and arrived on the 16th at Oak Point, which we 
found Mr. Stuart ready to quit. 

Meanwhile, the natives of the vicinity informed 
us that they had seen the marks of shoes im- 
printed on the sand, at the confluence of a small 
stream in the neighborhood. We got three small 
canoes, carrying two persons each, and having 
ascertained that the information was correct, 
after searching the environs during a part of the 
17th, we ascended the small stream as far as 
some high lands which are seen from Oak Point, 
and which lie about eight or nine miles south of 
it. The space between these high lands and the 
ridge crowned with oaks on the bank of the 
Columbia, is a low and swampy land, cut up by 



134 franchere's voyage. 

an infinity of little channels. Toward evening 
we returned on our path, to regain the schooner ; 
but instead of taking the circuitous way of the 
river, by which we had come, we made for Oak 
Point by the most direct route, through these 
channels ; but night coming on, we lost ourselves. 
Our situation became the most disagreeable that 
can be imagined. Being unable to find a place 
where we could land, on account of the morass, 
we were obliged to continue rowing, or rather 
turning round, in this species of labyrinth, con- 
stantly kneeling in our little canoes, which any 
unlucky movement would infallibly have caused 
to upset. It rained in torrents and was dark as 
pitch. At last, after having wandered about 
during a considerable part of the night, we suc- 
ceeded in gaining the edge of the mainland. 
Lea'sdng there our canoes, liecause we could not 
drag them (as we attempted) through the forest, 
we crossed the woods in the darkness, tearing 
ourselves with the brush, and reached the schoon- 
er, at about two in the morning, benumbed with 
cold and exhausted with fatigue. 



FRESH DIFFICULTIES. 135 

The 18th was spent in getting in the remain- 
der of the lading of the little vessel, and on the 
morning of the 19th we raised anchor, and drop- 
ped down aln-east of the Kreluit village, where 
some of the Indians offering to aid us in the 
search after our deserters, Mr. Stuart put Mr. 
Farnham and me on shore to make another at- 
tempt. We passed that day in drying our clothes, 
and the next day embarked in a canoe, with one 
Kreluit man and a squaw, and ascended the river 
before described as entering the Columbia at this 
place. We soon met a canoe of natives, who in- 
formed us that our runaways had been made 
prisoners by the chief of a tribe which dwells 
upon the banks of the Willamet river, and which 
they called Cathlanaminim. We kept on and 
encamped on a beach of sand opposite Deer 
island. There we passed a night almost as dis- 
agreeable as that of the 17tli-18th. We had 
lighted a fire, and contrived a shelter of mats ; 
])ut there came on presently a violent gust of 
wind, accompanied with a heavy rain : our fire was 
put out, our mats were carried away, and we could 



136 franchere's voyage. 

neither rekindle the one nor find the others : so 
that "we had to remain all night exposed to the 
fury of the storm. As soon as it was day we re- 
embarked, and set ourselves to paddling with all 
our might to warm ourselves. In the evening we 
arrived near the village where our deserters 
were, and saw one of them on the skirts of it. 
"We proceeded to the hut of the chief, where we 
found all three, more inclined to follow us than 
to remain as slaves among these barbarians. We 
passed the night in the chief's lodge, not without 
some fear and some precaution ; this chief having 
the reputation of being a wicked man, and ca- 
pable of violating the rights of parties. He was 
a man of high stature and a good mien, and proud 
in proportion, as we discovered by tlie chilling 
and haughty manner in which he received us. 
Farnham and I agreed to keep watch alternately, 
but this arrangement was superfluous, as neither 
of us could sleep a wink for the infernal thump- 
ing and singing made by the medicine men all 
night long, by a dying native. I had an oppor- 
tunity of seeing the sick man make his last will 



author's firmness. 137 

and testament : having caused to be brought to 
him whatever he had that was most precious, his 
bracelets of copper, his bead necklace, his bow 
and arrows and quiver, his nets, his lines, his 
spear, his pipe, etc., he distributed the whole to 
his most intimate friends, with a promise on their 
part, to restore them, if he recovered. 

On the 22d, after a great deal of talk, and in- 
finite quibbling on the part of the chief, we agreed 
with him for the ransom of our men. I had 
visited every lodge in the village and found but 
few of the young men, the greater part having 
gone on a fishing excursion ; knowing, therefore, 
that the chief could not be supported by his war- 
riors, I was resolved not be imposed upon, and 
as I knew where the firearms of the fugitives had 
been deposited, I would have them at all hazards ; 
but we were obliged to give him all our blankets, 
amounting to eight, a brass kettle, a hatchet, a 
small pistol, much out of order, a powder-horn, 
and some rounds of ammunition : with these 
articles placed in a pile before him, we demanded 
the men's clothing, the three fowling-pieces, and 



138 franchere's voyage. 

tlieir canoe, which he liad caused to be hidden in 
the T^ods. Nothing but our firmness compelled 
him to accept the articles offered in exchange; 
but at last, with great reluctance, he closed the 
bargain, and suffered us to depart in the evening 
with the prisoners and the property. 

We all five (including the three deserters) 
embarked in the large canoe, leaving our Kreluit 
and his wife to follow in the other, and proceeded 
as far as the Cowlitzk, where we camped. The 
next day, we pursued our journey homeward, 
only stopping at the Kreluit village to get some 
provisions, and soon entered the group of islands 
which crowd the river above Gray's bay. On 
one of these we stopped to amuse ourselves with 
shooting some ducks, and meanwhile a smart 
breeze springing up, we split open a double-rush 
mat (which had served as a bag), to make a 
sail, and having cut a forked sapling for a mast, 
shipped a few boulders to stay the foot of it, and 
spread our canvass to the wind. We soon ar- 
rived in sight of Gray's bay, at a distance of 
fourteen or fifteen miles from our establishment. 



OUR TEMERITY. 139 

We had, notwithstanding, a long passage across, 
the river forming in this place, as I have before 
observed, a sort of lake, by the recession of its 
shores oh either hand : but the wind was fair. 
We undertook, then, to cross, and quitted the 
island, to enter the broad, lake-like expanse, just 
as the sun was going down, hoping to reach As- 
toria in a couple of hours. 

We were not long before we repented of our 
temerity : for in a short time the sky became 
overcast, the wind increased till it blew with 
violence, and meeting with the tide, caused the 
waves to rise prodigiously, which broke over our 
wretched canoe, and filled it with water. We 
lightened it, as much as we could, by throwing 
overboard the little baggage we had left, and I 
set the men to baling with our remaining brass 
kettle. At last, after having been, for three hours, 
the sport of the raging billows, and threatened 
every instant with being swallowed up, we had 
the unexpected happiness of landing in a cove on 
the north shore of the river. Our first care was 
to thank the Almighty for having delivered us 



140 pranchere's voyage. 

from so imminent a danger. Then, when we had 
secured the canoe, and groped our way to the 
forest, where we made, with branches of trees, a 
shelter against the wind — still continuing to 
blow with violence, and kindled a great fire 
to warm us and dry our clothes. That did not 
prevent us from shivering the rest of the night, 
even in congratulating ourselves on the happi- 
ness of setting our foot on shore at the moment 
when we began quite to despair of saving our- 
selves at all. 

The morning of the 24th brought with it a 
clear sky, but no abatement in the violence of the 
wind, till toward evening, when we again em- 
barked, and arrived with our deserters at the 
establishment, where they never expected to see 
us again. Some Indians who had followed us in 
a canoe, up to the moment when we undertook 
the passage across the evening before, had fol- 
lowed the southern shore, and making the port- 
age of the isthmus of Tongue Point, had happily 
arrived at Astoria. These natives, not doubting 
that we were lost, so reported us to Mr. M'Dou- 



ARRIVE SAFELY. 141 

gal ; accordingly that gentleman was equally 
overjoyed and astonished at beholding us safely 
landed, which procured, not only for us, but for 
the culprits, our companions, a cordial and hearty 
reception. 



142 franchere's voyage. 



CHAPTER XL 

Departure of Mr. R. Stuart for the Interior. — Occupations at 
Astoria. — Arrival of Messrs. Donald M'Kenzie and Robert 
M'Lellan. — Account of their Journey. — Arrival of Mr. Wilson 
P. Hunt. 

The natives having given us to understand that 
beaver was very abundant in the country wa- 
tered by the Willamet, Mr. E,. Stuart procured a 
guide, and set out, on the 5th of December, ac- 
companied by Messrs. Fillet and M'Gillis and a 
few of the men, to ascend that river and ascertain 
whether or no it would be advisable to establish a 
trading-post on its banks. Mr. R. Bruguier accom- 
panied them to follow his pursuits as a trapper. 

The season at which we expected the return 
of the Tonquin was now past, and we began to 
regard as too probable the report of the Indians 
of Gray's Harbor. We still flattered ourselves, 



THE NEW YEAR. 143 

notwithstanding, with the hope that perhaps that 
vessel had sailed for the East Indies, without 
touching at Astoria ; but this was at most a con- 
jecture. 

The 25th, Christmas-day, passed very agree- 
ably : we treated the men, on that day, with the 
best the establishment afforded. Although that was 
no great affair, they seemed well satisfied ; for they 
had been restricted, during the last few months, 
to a very meagre diet, lining, as one may say, on 
sun-dried fish. On the 27th, the schooner having 
returned from her second voyage up the river, 
we dismantled her, and laid her up for the winter 
at the entrance of a small creek. 

The weather, which had been raining, almost 
without interruption, from the beginning of Octo- 
ber, cleared up on the evening of the 31st ; and 
the 1st January, 1812, brought us a clear and 
serene sky. "We proclaimed the new year with 
a discharge of artillery. A small allowance of 
spirits was served to the men, aiid the day 
passed in gayety, every one amusing himself as 
well as he could. 



144 franchere's voyage. 

The festival over, our people resumed their 
ordinary occupations : while some cut timber for 
building, and others made charcoal for the black- 
smith, the carpenter constructed a barge, and the 
cooper made barrels for the use of the posts we 
proposed to establish in the interior. On the 
18th, in the evening, two canoes full of white 
men arrived at the establishment. Mr. M'Dou- 
gal, the resident agent, being confined to his 
room by sickness, the duty of receiving the 
strangers devolved on me. My astonishment 
was not slight, when one of the party called me 
by name, as he extended his hand, and I recog- 
nised Mr. Donald M'Kenzie, the same who had 
quitted Montreal, with Mr. W. P. Hunt, in the 
month of July, 1810. He was accompanied by a 
Mr. Robert M'Lellan, a partner, Mr. John Reed, a 
clerk, and eight voi/ag-etirs, or boatmen. After 
having reposed .themselves a little from their fa- 
tigues, these gentlemen recounted to us the his- 
tory of their journey, of which the following is 
the substance. 

Messrs. Hunt and M'Kenzie, quitting Canada, 



THE OVERLAND PARTY. 145 

proceeded by way of Mackinac and St. Louis, 
and ascended the Missouri, in the autumn of 
1810, to a place on that river called Nadoway, 
where they wintered. Here they were joined 
by Mr. R. M'Lellan, by a Mr. Crooks, and a 
Mr. MCiller, traders with the Indians of the 
South, and all having business relations with Mr. 
Astor. 

In the spring of 1811, having procured two 
large keel-boats, they ascended the Missouri 
to the country of the Arikaras, or Rice Indians, 
where they disposed of their boats and a great 
part of their luggage, to a Spanish trader, 
by name Manuel Lisa. Having purchased of 
him, and among the Indians, 130 horses, they 
resumed their route, in the beginning of August, 
to the number of some sixty-five persons, to pro- 
ceed across the mountains to the river Columbia. 
Wishing to avoid the Blackfeet Indians, a war- 
like and ferocious tribe, who put to death all the 
strangers that fall into their hands, they directed 
their course southwardly, until they arrived at 
the 40th degree of latitude. Thence they turned 



146 franchere's voyage. 

to the northwest, and arrived, by-and-by, at an 
old fort, or trading post, on the banks of a little 
river flowing west. This post, which was then 
deserted, had been established, as they afterward 
learned, by a trader named Henry. Our people, 
not doubting that this stream would conduct 
them to the Columbia, and finding it navigable, 
constructed some canoes to descend it. Having 
left some hunters (or trappers) near the old fort, 
with Mr. Miller, who, dissatisfied with the expe- 
dition, was resolved to return to the United 
States, the party embarked ; but very soon find- 
ing the river obstructed with rapids and water- 
falls, after having upset some of the canoes, lost 
one man by drowning, and also a part of their 
baggage, perceiving that the stream was imprac- 
ticable, they resolved to abandon their canoes 
and proceed on foot. The enterprise was one of 
great difficulty, considering the small stock of 
provisions they had left. Nevertheless, as there 
was* no time to lose in deliberation, after deposit- 
ing in a cache the superflous part of their bag- 
gage, they divided themselves into four com- 



THEIR SUFFERINGS. 147 

panies, under the command of Messrs. M'Kenzie, 
Hunt, M'Lellan and Crooks, and proceeded to 
follow the course of the stream, which they 
named Mad river, on account of the msurmount- 
able difficulties it presented. Messrs. M'Kenzie 
'and M'Lellan took the right bank, and Messrs. 
Hunt and Crook the left. They counted on ar- 
riving very quickly at the Columbia ; but they 
followed this Mad river for twenty days, finding 
nothing at all to eat, and suJBTering horribly from 
thirst. The rocks between which the river flows 
being so steep and abrupt as to prevent their 
descending to quench their thirst (so that even 
their dogs died of it), they sujBered the torments 
of Tantalus, with this difference, that he had the 
water which he could not reach above his head, 
while our travellers had it beneath their feet. 
Several, not to die of this raging tliirst, drank 
their own urine : all, to appease the cravings of 
hunger, ate beaver skins roasted in the evening 
at the camp-fire. They even were at last con- 
strained to eat their moccasins. Those on the 
left, or southeast bank, sufiered, however, less 



148 pranchere's voyage. 

than the others, because they occasionally fell in 
with Indians, utterly wild indeed, and who fled 
at their approach, carrying off their horses. Ac- 
cording to all appearances these savages had 
never seen white men. Our travellers, when 
they arrived in sight of the camp of one of these 
wandering hordes, approached it with as much 
precaution, and with the same stratagem that 
they would have used with a troop of wild 
beasts. Having thus surprised them, they 
would fire upon the horses, some of which 
would fall ; but they took care to leave some 
trinkets on the spot, to indemnify the owners 
for what they had taken from them by violence. 
This resource prevented the party from perishing 
of hunger. 

Mr. M'Kenzie having overtaken Mr. M'Lellan, 
their two companies pursued the journey to- 
gether. Very soon after this junction, they had 
an opportunity of approaching sufficiently near 
to Mr. Hunt, who, as I have remarked, was on 
the other bank, to speak to him, and inform 
him of their distressed state. Mr. Hunt caused 



THEIR MISFORTUNES. 149 

a canoe to be made of a horse-hide ; it was not, 
as one may suppose, very large ; but they suc- 
ceBded, nevertheless, by that means, in convey- 
ing a little horse-flesh to the people on the north 
bank. It was attempted, even, to pass them 
across, one by one (for the skiff would not hold 
any more) ; several had actually crossed to the 
south side, when, unhappily, owing to the impet- 
uosity of the current, the canoe capsized, a man 
was drowned, and the two parties lost all hope 
of being able to unite. They continued their 
route, therefore, each on their own side of the 
river. In a short time those upon the north 
bank came to a more considerable stream, which 
they followed down. They also met, very op- 
portunely, some Indians, who sold them a num- 
ber of horses. They also encountered, in these 
parts, a young American, who was deranged, but 
who sometimes recovered his reason. This young 
man told them, in one of his lucid intervals, that 
he was from Connecticut, and was named Archi- 
bald Pelton ; that he had come up the Missouri 
with Mr. Henry ; that all the people at the post 



150 franchere's voyage. 

established by that trader were massacred by the 
Blackfeet ; that he alone had escaped, and had been 
wandering, for three years since, with the Snake 
Indians.* Our people took this young man with 
them. Arriving at the confluence with the Co- 
lumbia, of the river whose banks they were fol- 
lowing, they perceived tliat it was the same which 
had been called Lewis river, by the American 
captain of that name, in 1805. Here, then, they 
exchanged their remaining horses for canoes, 
and so arrived at the establishment, Safe and 
sound, it is true, but in a pitiable condition to 
see ; their clothes being nothing but fluttering 
rags. 

The narrative of these gentlemen interested us 
very much. They added, that since their separ- 
ation from Messrs. Hunt and Crooks, they had 
neither seen nor heard aught of them, and be- 
lieved it impossible that they should arrive at 
the establishment before spring. They were 
mistaken, however, for Mr. Hunt arrived on the 

* A thoroughly savage and lazy tribe, inhabiting- the plains of 
the Columbia, between the 43d and 44th degrees of latitude. 



DESPATCHES HOME. 151 

IStli February, with thirty men, one woman, and 
two children, having left Mr. Crooks, with five 
men, among the Snakes. They might have 
reached Astoria almost as soon as Mr. M'Kenzie, 
but they had passed from eight to ten days in 
the midst of a plain, among some friendly In- 
dians, as well to recruit their strength, as to 
make search for two of tlie party, who had been 
lost in the woods. Not finding them, they had 
resumed their journey, and struck the banks of 
the Columbia a little lower down than the mouth 
of Lewis river, where Mr. M'Kenzie had come 
out. 

The arrival of so great a number of persons 
would have embarrassed us, had it taken place a 
month sooner. Happily, at this time, the natives 
were bringing in fresh fish in abundance. Until 
the 30th of March, we were occupied in prepar- 
ing triplicates of letters and other necessary 
papers, in order to send Mr. Astor the news of 
our an-ival, and of the reunion of the two ex- 
peditions. The letters were intrusted to Mr. 
John Reed, who quitted Astoria for St. Louis, in 



152 franchere's voyage. 

company with Mr. M'Lellan — another discon- 
tented partner, who wished to disconnect him- 
self with the association^— and Mr. R. Stuart, 
who was conveying two canoe-loads of goods for 
his uncle's post on the Okenakan. Messrs. 
Parnham and M'Gillis set out at the same time, 
with a guide, and were instructed to proceed to 
the cache* where the overland travellers had 

* These caches are famous in all tlie narratives of overland 
travel, whether for trade or discovery. The manner of making 
them is described by Captains Lewis and Clarke, as follows : they 
choose a dry situation, then describing a circle of some twenty 
inches diameter, remove the sod as gently and carefully as pos- 
sible. The hole is then sunk a foot deep or more, perpendicu- 
larly ; it is then worked gradually wider as it descends, till it Be- 
comes six or seven feet deep, and shaped like a kettle, or the 
lower part of a large still. As the earth is dug out, it is handed 
up in a vessel, and carefully laid upon a skin or cloth, in which it 
is carried away, and usually thrown into the river, if there be one, 
or concealed so as to leave no trace of it. A floor of three or 
four inches thick is then made of dry sticks, on which is thrown 
hay or a hide perfectly dry. The goods, after being well aired 
and dried, are laid down, and preserved from contact with the 
wall by a layer of other dried sticks, till all is stowed away. When 
the hole is nearly full, a hide is laid on top, and the earth is thrown 
upon this, and beaten down, until, with the addition of the sod 
first removed, the whole is on a level with the ground, and there 
remains not the slightest ap])ear:inco of an excavation. The first 
shower effaces every sign of what has been done, and such a 
cache is safe for years. — Ed. 



I WRITE HOME. 163 

hidden their goods, near old Fort Henry, on the 
Mad river. I profited by this opportunity to 
write to my family in Canada. Two days after, 
Messrs. M'Kenzie and Matthews set out, with 
five or six men, as hunters, to make an excur- 
sion up the Willamet river. 
7* 



154 francheee's voyage. 



CHAPTER XII. - 

Arrival of the Ship Beaver. — Unexpected Return of Messrs. D. 
Stuart, R. Stuart, M'Lelland, &c. — Cause of that Return. — 
Ship discharg^ing. — New Expeditions. — Hostile Attitude of tho 
Natives. — Departure of the Beaver. — Journeys of the Author. 
— His Occupations at the Establishment. 

From the departure of the last outfit under 
Mr. M'Kenzie, nothing remarkable took place at 
Astoria, till the 9th of May. On that day we 
descried, to our great surprise and great joy, a 
sail in the offing, opposite the mouth of the river. 
Forthwith Mr. M'Dougal was despatched in a 
boat to the cape, to make the signals. On the 
morning of the 10th, the weather being fine and 
the sea smooth, the boat pushed out and arrived 
safely alongside. Soon after, the wind springing 
up, the vessel made sail and entered the river, 
where she dropped anchor, in Baker's Bay, at 
about 2 P. M. Toward evening the boat return- 



SUDDEN RETURN. 155 

ed to the Fort, with the following passengers : 
Messrs. John Clarke of Canada (a wintering 
partner), Alfred Seton, George Ehnainger, a 
nephew of Mr. Astor (clerks), and two men. 
We learned from these gentlemen that the vessel 
was the Beaver, Captain Cornelius Soivles, and 
was consigned to us ; that she left New York on 
the 10th of October, and had touched, in the pas- 
sage, at Massa Fuero and the Sandwich Isles. 
Mr. Clarke handed me letters from my father and 
from several of my friends : I thus learned that 
death had deprived me of a beloved sister. 

On the morning of the 11th, we were strangely 
surprised by the return of Messrs. D. Stuart, R. 
Stuart, R. M'Lelland, Crooks, Reed, and Farn- 
ham. This return, as sudden as unlooked for, 
was owing to an unfortunate adventure which 
befell the party, in ascending the river. When 
they reached the Falls, where the portage is very 
long, some natives came with their horses, to 
offer their aid in transporting the goods. Mr. 
R. Stuart, not distrusting them, confided to their 
care some bales of merchandise, which they 



156 franchere's voyage. 

packed on their horses : but, in making the tran- 
sit, they darted up a narrow path among the 
rocks, and fled at full gallop toward the prairie, 
without its being possible to overtake them. Mr. 
Stuart had several shots fired over their heads, 
to frighten them, but it had no other eflect than 
to increase their speed. Meanwhile our own peo- 
ple continued the transportation of the rest of the 
goods, and of the canoes; but as there was a 
great number of natives about, whom the success 
and impunity of those thieves had emboldened, 
Mr. Stuart thought it prudent to keep watch 
over the goods at the upper end of the portage, 
while Messrs. M'Lellan and Reed made the rear- 
guard. The last named gentleman, who carried, 
strapped to his shoulders, a tin box containing 
the letters and despatches for New York with 
which he was charged, happened to be at some dis- 
tance from the former, and the Indians thought it 
a favorable opportunity to attack him and carry 
off his box, the brightness of which no doubt had 
tempted their cupidity. They threw themselves 
upon him so suddenly that he had no time to 



INDIAN RENCONTRE. 157 

place himself on the defensive. After a short 
resistance, he received a blow on the head from 
a war club, which felled him to the ground, and 
the Indians seized upon their booty. Mr. M'Lel- 
lan perceiving what was done, fired his carabine 
at one of the robbers and made him bite the 
dust ; the rest took to flight, but carried off the 
box notwithstanding. Mr. M'Lellan immediately 
ran up to Mr. Reed ; but finding the latter mo- 
tionless and bathed in blood, he hastened to re- 
join Mr. Stuart, urging him to get away from 
these robbers and murderers. But Mr. Stuart, 
being a self-possessed and fearless man, would 
not proceed without ascertaining if Mr. Reed were 
really dead, or if he were, without carrying off 
his body ; and notwithstanding the remonstrances 
of Mr. M'Lellan, taking his way back to the 
spot where the latter had left his companion, had 
not gone two hundred paces, when he met him 
coming toward them, holding his bleeding head 
with both hands.* 

* We were apprized of this unfoi'tunate rencontre by natives 
from up the river, on the 15th of April, but disbelieved it. [It is 



158 franchere's voyage. 

The object of Mr. Reed's journey being de- 
feated by the loss of his papers, he repaired, with 
the other gentlemen, to Mr. David Stuart's 
trading post, at Okenakan, whence they had all 
set out, in the beginning of May, to return to As- 
toria. Coming down the river, they fell in with 
Mr. R. Crooks, and a man named John Day. It 
was observed in the preceding chapter that Mr. 
Crooks remained with five men among some In- 
dians who were there termed friendly : but this 
gentleman and his companion were the only 
members of that party who ever reached the es- 
tablishment: and they too arrived in a most 
pitiable condition, the savages having stripped 



curious to observe the want of niilitary sagacity and precaution 
which characterized the operations of these traders, compared 
with the exact calculations of danger and the unfailing measures 
of defence, employed from the very outset by Captains Lewis and 
Clarke in the same counti-y. There was one very audacious at- 
tempt at plunder made upon the latter ; but besides that it cost 
the Indians a life or two, the latter lost property of their own far 
exceeding their booty. It is true that the American officers had 
a stronger force at their disposal than our merchants had, and 
that, too, consisting of expcrience(\ western hunters and veteran 
soldiers of the frontier; but it is not less interesting to note the 
differebce, because it is easy to account for it. — J. V. H.] 



THE TONQUIN. 159 

them of everything, leaving them but some bits 
of deerskin to cover their nakedness. 

On the 12th, the schooner, which had been 
sent down the river to the Beaver's anchorage, 
returned with a cargo (being the stores intended 
for Astoria), and the following passengers: to 
wit, Messrs. B. Clapp, J. C. Halsey, C. A. 
Nichols, and E. Cox, clerks ; five Canadians, 
seven Americans (all mechanics), and a dozen 
Sandwich-islanders for the service of the estab- 
lishment. The captain of the Beaver sounded 
the channel diligently for several days ; but find- 
ing it scarcely deep enough for so large a vessel, 
he was unwilling to bring her up to Astoria. It 
was necessary, in consequence, to use the schoon- 
er as a lighter in discharging the ship, and this 
tedious operation occupied ub during the balance 
of this month and a part of June. 

Captain Sowles and Mr. Clarke confirmed the 
report of the destruction of the Tonquin ; they 
had learned it at Owhyhee, by means of a letter 
which a certain Captain Ebbetts, in the employ 
of Mr. Astor, had left there. It was nevertheless 



160 franchere's voyage. 

resolved that Mr. Hunt should embark upon the 
" Beaver," to carry out the plan of an exact com- 
mercial survey of the coast, which Mr. M'Kay 
had been sent to accomplish, and in particular to 
visit for that purpose the Russian establishments 
at Chitka sound. 

The necessary papers having been prepared 
anew, and being now ready to expedite, were 
confided to Mr. E,. Stuart, who was to cross the 
continent in company with Messrs. Crooks and 
R. M'Lellan, partners dissatisfied with the en- 
terprise, and who had made up their minds to 
return to the United States. Mr. Clark, accom- 
panied by Messrs. Fillet, Donald, M'Lellan, 
Farnham and Cox, was fitted out at the same 
time, with a considerable assortment of merchan- 
dise, to form a new establishment on the Spokan 
or Clarke's river. Mr. M'Kenzie, with Mr. Se- 
ton, was destined for the borders of Leivis river : 
while Mr. David_ Stuart, reinforced by Messrs. 
Matthews and M'Gillis, was to explore the region 
lying north of his post at Okenakan. All these 
outfits being ready, with the canoes, boatmen, 



OUR ALARM. 161 

and hunters, the flotilla quitted Astoria on the 
30th of June, in the afternoon, having on board 
sixty-two persons. The sequel will show the 
result of the several expeditions. 

During the whole month of July, the natives 
(seeing us weakened no doubt by these outfits), 
manifested their hostile intentions so openly that 
we were obliged to be constantly on our guard. 
We constructed covered ways inside our palisades, 
and raised our bastions or towers another story. 
The alarm became so serious toward the latter 
end of the month that we doubled our sentries 
day and night, and never allowed more than two 
or three Indians at a time within our gate's. 

The Beaver was ready to depart on her coast- 
ing voyage at the end of June, and on the 1st of 
July Mr. Hunt went on board : but westerly 
winds prevailing all that month, it was not till 
the 4th of August that she was able to get out 
of the river ; being due again by the end of Oc- 
tober to leave her surplus goods and take in our 
furs for market. 

The months of August and September were 



162 framchere's voyageC 

employed in finishing a house forty-five feet by 
thirty, shingled and perfectly tight, as a hospital 
for the sick, and lodging house for the mechanics. 

Experience having taught us that from the be- 
ginning of October to the end of January, pro- 
visions were brought in by the natives in very 
small quantity, it was thought expedient that I 
should proceed in the schooner, accompanied by 
Mr. Clapp, on a trading voyage up the river to 
secure a cargo of dried fish. We left Astoria 
on the 1st of October, with a small assortment of 
merchandise. The trip was highly successful: 
we found the game very abundant, killed a great 
quantity of swans, ducks, foxes, &c., and re- 
turned to Astoria on the 20th, with a part of our 
venison, wild fowl, and bear meat, besides seven 
hundred and fifty smoked salmon, a quantity of 
the Wapto root (so called by the natives) , which 
is found a good substitute for potatoes, and four 
hundred and fifty skins of beaver and other ani- 
mals of the furry tribe. 

The encouragement derived from this excursion 
induced us to try a second, and I set ofi" this time 



THE RAINY SEASON. 163 

alone, that is, with a crew of five men only, and 
an Indian boy, son of the old chief Coriicomly. 
This second voyage proved anything but agree- 
able. Vie experienced continual rains, and the 
game was much less abundant, while the natives 
had mostly left the river for their wintering 
grounds. I succeeded, nevertheless, in exchang- 
ing my goods for furs and dried fish, and a small 
supply of dried venison : ^nd returned, on the 
15th of November, to Astoria, where the want of 
fresh provisions began to be severely felt, so that 
several of the men were attacked with scurvy. 

Messrs. Halsey and Wallace having been sent 
on the 23d, with fourteen men, to establish a 
trading post on the Willamet, and Mr. M'Dougal 
being confined to his room by sickness, Mr. 
Clapp and I were left with the entire charge of 
the post at Astoria, and were each other's only 
resource for society. Happily Mr. Clapp Avas a 
man of amiable character, of a gay, lively humor, 
and agreeable conversation. In the intervals of 
our daily duties, we amused ourselves with musio 
and reading ; having some instruments and a 



164 franchere's voyage. 

choice library. Otherwise we should have passed 
our time in a state of insufferable ennui, at this 
rainy season, in the midst of the deep mud which 
surrounded us, and which interdicted the pleasure 
of a promenade outside the buildings. 



MR. M KENZIE RETURNS. 165 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Uneasiness respecting the "Beaver." — News of the Declai-ation 
of War between Great Britain and the United States. — Con- 
sequences of that Intelligence. — Different Occurrences. — Ani- 
val of two Canoes of the Northwest Company. — Preparations 
for abandoning the Country. — Postponement of Departure. — 
Arrangement with Mr. J. G. M'Tavish. 

The months of October, November, and De- 
cember passed away without any news of the 
" Beaver," and we began to fear that there had 
happened to her, as to the Tonquin, some disas 
trous accident. It will be seen, in the following 
chapter, why this vessel did not return to Astoria 
in the autumn of 1812. 

On the 15th of January, Mr. M'Kenzie arrived 
from the interior, having abandoned his trading 
establishment, after securing his stock of goods 
in a cache. Before his departure he had paid a 
visit to Mr. Clark on the Spokan, and while there 



16(3 franchere's voyage. 

had learned the news, which he came to announce 
to us, that hostilities had actually commenced 
between Great Britain and the United States. 
The news had been brought by some gentlemen 
of the Northwest Company, who handed to them 
a copy of the Proclamation of the President to 
that effect. 

When we learned this news, all of us at Asto- 
ria who were British subjects^ and Canadians, 
wished ourselves in Canada ; but we could not 
entertain even the thought of transporting our- 
selves thither, at least immediately: we were 
separated from our country by an immense space, 
and the difficulties of the journey at this season 
were insuperable : besides, Mr. Astor's interests 
had to be consulted first. We held, therefore, a 
sort of council of war, to which the clerks of the 
factory were invited pro forma, as they had no 
voice in the deliberations. Having maturely 
weighed our situation ; after having seriously con- 
sidered that being almost to a man British sub- 
jects, we were trading, notwithstanding, under the 
American flag : and foreseeing the improbabilit}'-, 



IMPORTANT RESOLUTION. 167 

or rather, to cut the matter short, the impossibility 
that Mr. Astor could send us further supplies or 
reinforcements while the war lasted, as most of 
the ports of the United States would inevitably be 
blockaded by the British ; we concluded to aban- 
don the establishment in the ensuing spring, or at 
latest, in the beginning of the summer. "We did 
not communicate these resolutions to the men, 
lest they should in consequence abandon their 
labor : but we discontinued, from that moment, 
our trade with the natives, except for provisions ; 
as well because we had no longer a large stock 
of goods on hand, as for the reason that we had 
already more furs than we could carry away 
overland. 

So long as we expected the return of the ves- 
sel, we had served out to the people a regular 
supply of bread : we found ourselves in conse- 
quence, very short of provisions, on the arrival 
of Mr. M'Kenzie and his men. This augmenta- 
tion in the number of mouths to be fed compelled 
us to reduce the ration of each man to four ounces 
of flour and half a pound of dried fish per diem : 



168 franchere's voyagiz. 

and even to send a portion of the hands to pass 
the rest of the winter with Messrs. Wallace and 
Halsey on the Willamet, where game was plenty. 

Meanwhile, the sturgeon having begun to enter 
the river, I left, on the 13th of February, to fish 
for them ; and on the 15th sent the first boat-load 
to the establishment ; which proved a very 
timely succor to the men, who for several days 
had broken off work from want of sufficient food. 
I formed a camp near Oak Point, whence I con- 
tinued to despatch canoe after canoe of fine fresh 
fish to Astoria, and Mr. M'Dougal sent to me 
thither all the men who were sick of scurvy, for ^ 
the re-establishment of their health. 

On the 20th of March, Messrs. Reed and Seton, 
who had led a. part of our men to the post on the 
"Willamet, to subsist them, returned to Astoria, 
with a supply of dried venison. These gentlemen 
spoke to us in glowing terms of the country of 
the Willamet as charming, and abounding in bea- 
ver, elk, and deer ; and informed us that Messrs. 
Wallace and Halsey had constructed a dwelling 
and trading house, on a great prairie, about one 



TWO CANOES ARRIVE. 169 

hundred and fifty miles from the confluence of 
that river with the Columbia. Mr. M'Kenzie and 
his party quitted us again on the 31st, to make 
known the resolutions recently adopted at Asto- 
ria, to the gentlemen who were wintering in the 
interior. 

On the 11th of April two birch-bark canoes, 
bearing the British flag, arrived at the factory. 
They were commanded by Messrs. J. G. M'Tav- 
ish and Joseph Laroque,and manned by nineteen 
Canadian voyageurs. They landed on a point 
of land under the guns of the fort, and formed 
their camp. Wc invited these gentlemen to our 
quarters and learned from them the oliject of their 
visit. They had come to await the arrival of the 
ship Isaac Todd, despatched from Canada by the 
Northwest Company, in October, 1811, with furs, 
and from England in March, 1812, with a cargo 
of suitable merchandise for the Indian trade. 
They had orders to wait at the mouth of the Co- 
lumbia till the month of July, and then to return, 
if the vessel did not make her appearance by that 

time. They also informed us that the natives 
8 



170 franchere's voyage. 

near Lewis river had shown them fowling-pieces, 
gun-flints, lead, and powder ; and that they had 
communicated this news to Mr. M'Kenzie, pre- 
suming that the Indians had discovered and plun- 
dered his cache ; which turned out afterward to 
be the case. 

The month of May was occupied in prepara- 
tions for our departure from the Columbia. On 
the 25th, Messrs. Wallace and Halsey returned 
from their winter quarters with seventeen packs 
of furs, and thirty-two bales of dried venison. 
The last article was received with a great deal of 
pleasure, as it would infallibly be needed for the 
journey we were about to undertake. Messrs. 
Clarke, D. Stuart and M'Kenzie also arrived, in 
the beginning of June, with one hundred and forty 
packs of furs, the fruit of two years' trade at the 
post on the Okenakan, and one year on the 
Spokan* 

The "wintering partners (that is to say, Messrs. 
Clarke and David Stuart) dissenting from the 

** The profits of the last establishment were slender ; bocaase 
the people engaged at it were obliged to subsist on horBe-flesh, 
and they ate ninety horses during the winter. 



PLANS DEFERRED. 171 

proposal to abandon the country as soon as we 
intended, the thing being (as they observed) im- 
practicable, from the want of provisions for the 
journey and horses to transport the goods, the 
project was deferred, as to its execution, till the 
following April. So these gentlemen, having 
taken a new lot of merchandise, set out again for 
their trading posts on the 7th of July. But Mr. 
M'Kenzie, whose goods had been pillaged by the 
natives (it will be remembered), remained at 
Astoria, and was occupied with the care of col- 
lecting as great a quantity as possible of dried 
salmon from the Indians. He made seven or 
eight voyages up the river for that purpose, 
while we at the Fort were busy in baling the bea- 
ver-skins and other furs, in suitable packs for 
horses to carry. Mr. Reed, in the meantime, 
was sent on to the moimtain-passes where Mr. 
Miller had been left with the trappers, to winter 
there, and to procure as many horses as he could 
from the natives for our use in the contemplated 
journey. He was furnished for this expedition 
with three Canadians, and a half-breed hunter 



172 fraxchere's voyage. 

named Daion, the latter accompanied by his wife 
and two children. This man came from the lower 
Missouri with Mr. Hmit in 1811-'12. 

Our object being to provide ourselves, before 
quitting the country, with the food and horses 
necessary for the journey ; in order to avoid all 
opposition on the part of the Northwest Company, 
we entered into an arrangement with Mr. M'Tav- 
ish. This gentleman having represented to us 
that he was destitute of the necessary goods to 
procure wherewith to subsist his party on their 
way homeward, we supplied him from our ware- 
house, payment to be made us in the ensuing 
spring, either in furs or in bills of exchange on 
their house in Canada. 



A STRANGE SHIP. 173 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Arrival of the Ship "Albatross." — Reasons for the Non- Appear- 
ance of tlie Beaver at Astoria. — Fruitless Attempt of Captain 
Smith on a Former Occasion. — Astonishment and Regret of Mr. 
Hunt at the Resolution of the Partners. — His Departure. — Nar- 
rative of the Destruction of the Tonquin. — Causes of that Dis- 
aster. — Reflections. 

On the 4th of August, contrary to all expecta- 
tion, we saw a sail at the mouth of the river. 
One of our gentlemen immediately got into the 
barge, to as.certain her nationality and object : but 
before he had fairly crossed the river, we saw 
her pass the bar and direct her course toward 
Astoria, as if she were commanded by a captain 
to whom the intricacies of the channel were fa- 
miliar. I had stayed at the Fort with Mr. Clapp 
and four men. As soon as we had recognised 
the American flag, not doubting any longer that 
it was a ship destined for the factory, we saluted 



174 feanchere's voyage. 

her with three guns. She came to anchor over 
against the fort, but on the opposite side of the 
river, and returned our salute. In a short time 
after, we saw, or rather we heard, the oars of a 
boat (for it was already night) that came toward 
us. We expected her approach witli impatience, 
to know who the stranger was, and what news 
she brought us. Soon we were relieved from 
our uncertainty by the appearance of Mr. Hunt, 
who informed us that the ship was called the 
Albatross and was commanded by Captain Smith. 
It will be remembered that Mr. Hunt had 
sailed from Astoria on board the " Beaver," on 
the 4th of August of the preceding year, and 
should have returned with that vessel, in the 
month of October of the same year. We testified 
to him our surprise that he had not returned at 
the time appointed, and expressed the fears which 
we had entertained in regard to his fate, as well 
as that of the Beaver itself: and in reply he ex- 
plained to us the reasons why neither he nor 
Captain Sowles had been able to fulfil the prom- 
ise which they had made us. 



Mu. hunt's story. 175 

After having got clear of the river Columbia, 
they had scudded to the north, and had repaired 
to the Russian post of Chitka, where they had 
exchanged a part of their goods for furs. They 
had made with the governor of that establishment, 
Barnoff by name, arrangements to supply him 
regularly with all the goods of which he had need, 
and to send him every year a vessel for that pur- 
pose, as well as for the transportation of his sur- 
plus furs to the East Indies. They had then 
advanced still further to the north, to the coast 
of Kamskatka; and being there informed that 
some Kodiak hunters had been left on some ad- 
jacent isles, called the islands of St. Peter and 
St. Paul, and that these hunters had not been 
visited for three years, they determined to go 
thither, and having reached those isles, they 
opened a brisk trade, and secured no less than 
eighty thousand skins of the South-sea seal. 
These operations had consumed a great deal of 
time ; the season was already far advanced ; ice 
was forming around them, and it was not with- 
out having incurred considerable dangers that 



176 franchere's voyage. 

they succeeded in making their way out of those 
latitudes. Having extricated themselves from 
the frozen seas of the north, but in a shattered 
condition, they deemed it more prudent to run 
for the Sandwich isles, where they arrived after 
enduring a succession of severe gales. Here Mr. 
Hunt disembarked, with the men who had ac- 
companied him, and who did not form a part of 
the ship's crew ; and the vessel, after vmdergoing 
the necessary repairs, set sail for Canton. 

Mr. Hunt had then passed nearly six months 
at the Sandwich islands, expecting the annual 
ship from New York, and never imagining that 
war had been declared. But at last, weary of 
waiting so long to no purpose, he had bought a 
small schooner of one of the chiefs of the isle of 
Wahoo, and was engaged in getting her ready to 
sail for the mouth of the Columbia, when four 
sails hove in sight, and presently came to anchor 
in Ohetity bay. He immediately went on board 
of one of them, and learned that they came from 
the Indies, whence they had sailed precipitately, 
to avoid the English cruisers. He also learned 



THE ALBATROSS — HER CAPTAIN. 177 

from the captain of the vessel he boarded, that 
the Beaver had arrived in Canton some days be- 
fore the news of the declaration of war. This 
Captain Smith, moreover, had on board some 
cases of nankeens and other goods shipped by 
Mr. Aster's agent at Canton for us. Mr. Hunt 
then chartered the Albatross to take him with 
his people and the goods to the Columbia. That 
gentleman had not been idle during the time that 
he sojourned at Wahoo : he brought us 35 bar- 
rels of salt pork or beef, nine tierces of rice, a 
great quantity of dried Taro, and a good supply 
of salt. 

As I knew the channel of the river, I went on 
board the Albatross, and piloted her to the old 
anchorage of the Tonquin, under the guns of the 
Fort, in order to facilitate the landing of the 
goods. 

Captain Smith informed us that in 1810, a 
year before the founding of our establishment, he 
had entered the river in the same vessel, and 
ascended it in boats as far as Oak Point ; and 
that he had attempted to form an establishment 



178 franchere's voyage. 

there ; but the spot which he chose for building, 
and on which he had even commenced fencing 
for a garden, being overflowed in the summer 
freshet, he had been forced to abandon his proj- 
ect and re-embark. "We had seen, in fact, at 
Oak Point, some traces of this projected estab- 
lishment. The bold manner in which this cap- 
tain had entered the river was now accounted 
for. 

Captain Smith had chartered his vessel to a 
Frenchman named Demestre, who was then a 
passenger on board of her, to go and take a car- 
go of sandal wood at the Marquesas, where that 
gentleman had left some men to collect it, the 
year before. He could not, therefore, comply 
with the request we made him, to remain dur- 
ing the summer with us, in order to transport 
our goods and people, as soon as they could be 
got together, to the Sandwich islands. 

Mr. Hunt was surprised beyond measure, when 
we informed him of the resolution we had taken 
of abandoning the country : he blamed us severe- 
ly for having acted with so much precipitation, 



MR. HUNT SAILS. 179 

pointing out that the success of the late coasting 
voyage, and the arrangements we had made with 
the Russians, promised a most advantageous 
trade, which it was a thousand pities to sacrifice, 
and lose the fruits of the hardships he had en- 
dured and the dangers he had braved, at one fell 
swoop, by this rash measure. Nevertheless, 
seeing the partners were determined to abide by 
their first resolution, and not being able, by him- 
self alone, to fulfil his engagements to Governor 
Barnoff, he consented to embark once more, in 
order to seek a vessel to transport our heavy 
goods, and such of us as wished to return by sea. 
He sailed, in fact, on the Albatross, at the end 
of the month. My friend Clapp embarked with 
him : they were, in the first instance, to run 
down the coast of California, in the hope of meet- 
ing there some of the American vessels which 
frequently visit that coast to obtain provisions 
from the Spaniards. 

Some days after the departure of Mr. Hunt, 
the old one-eyed chief Comcomly came to tell us 
that an Indian of Gray's Harbor^ who had sailed 



180 franchere's voyage. 

on the Tonquin in 1811, and who iras the only 
soul that had escaped the massacre of the crew 
of that unfortunate vessel, had returned to his 
tribe. xVs the distance from the Eiver Columbia 
to Gray's Harbor was not great, we sent for this 
native. At first he made considerable difficulty 
about following our people, but was finally per- 
suaded. He arrived at Astoria, and related to 
us the circumstances of that sad catastrophe, 
nearly as follows :* 

"After I had embarked on the Tonquin," said 
he, " that vessel sailed for Nbotka.j- Having 
arrived opposite a large village called Neicity^ 
we dropped anchor. The natives having invited 
Mr. M'Kay to land, he did so, and was received 
in the most cordial manner: they even kept him 
several days at their village, and made him lie, 

* It being' understood, of course, that I render into civilized 
expressions the language of this barbarian, and represent by 
words and plirases what he could only convey by gestures or by 
signs. [The naivete of these notes, and of the narrative in these 
passages, is amusing. — Ed.] 

t A great village or encampment of Indians, among whom the 
Spaniards had sent missionaries under the conduct of Signox 
Quadra ; but whence the latter were chased by Captain Vancouver, 
in 1792, as mentioned in the Introduction. 



FATE OF THE TOXQUIN. 181 

every night, on a couch of sea-otter skins. Mean- 
while the captain was engaged in trading with 
such of the natives as resorted to his ship : but 
having had a difficulty with one of the principal 
chiefs in regard to the price of certain goods, he 
ended by putting the latter out of the ship, and 
in the act of so repelling him, struck him on the 
face with the roll of furs which he had brought 
to trade. This act was regarded by that chief 
and his followers as the most grievous insult, and 
they resolved to take vengeance for it. To arrive 
more surely at their purpose, they dissembled 
their resentment, and came, as usual, on board 
the ship. One day, very early in the morning, a 
large pirogue, containing about a score of na- 
tives, came alongside : every man had in his 
hand a packet of furs, and held it over his head 
as a sign that they came to trade. The watch 
let them come on deck. A little after, arrived 
a second pirogue, carrying about as many men 
as the other. The sailors believed that these 
also came to exchange their furs, and allowed 
them to mount the ship's side like the first. Very 



182 franchere's voyage. 

soon, the pirogues tlius succeeding one another, 
the crew saw themselves surrounded by a multi- 
tude of savages, who came upon the deck from all 
sides. Becoming alarmed at the appearance of 
things, they went to apprize the captain and Mr. 
M'Kay, who hastened to the poop. I was with 
them," said the narrator, " and fearing, from the 
great multitude of Indians whom I saw already 
on the deck, and from the movements of those on 
shore, who were hurrying to embark in their 
canoes, to approach the vessel, and from the 
women being left in charge of the canoes of those 
who had arrived, that some evil design was on 
foot, I communicated my suspicions to Mr. 
M'Kay, who^himself spoke to the captain. The 
latter affected an air of security, and said that 
with the firearms on board, there was no reason 
to fear even a greater number of Indians. Mean- 
while these gentlemen had come on deck un- 
armed, without even their sidearms. The trade, 
nevertheless, did not advance ; the Indians of- 
fered less than was asked, and pressing with 
their furs close to the captain, Mr. M'Kay, and 



THE MASSACRE. 183 

Mr. Lewis, repeated the word Makoke! Ma- 
koke I " Trade ! Trade !" I urged the gentlemen 
to put to sea, and the captain, at last, seeing the 
number of Indians increase every moment, al- 
lowed himself to be persuaded: he ordered a 
part of the crew to raise the anchor, and the rest 
to go aloft and unfurl the sails. At the same 
time he warned the natives to withdraw, as the 
ship was going to sea. A fresh breeze was then 
springing up, and in a few moments more their 
prey would have escaped them ; but immediately 
on receiving this notice, by a preconcerted signal, 
the Indians, with a terrific yell, drew forth the 
knives and war-bludgeons they had concealed in 
their bundles of furs, and rushed upon the crew 
of the ship. Mr. Lewis was struck, and fell over 
a bale of blankets. Mr. M'Kay, however, was 
the first victim whom they sacrificed to their fury. 
Two savages, whom, from the crown of the poop, 
whore I was seated, I had seen follow this gen- 
tleman step by step, now cast themselves upon 
him, and having given him a blow on the head 
with a potumag-an (a kind of sabre which is de- 



184 franchere's voyage. , 

scribed a little below), felled liim to the deck, 
then took him up and flung him into the sea, 
■where the women left in charge of the canoes, 
quickly finished him with their paddles. Another 
set flung themselves upon the captain, who de- 
fended himself for a long time with his pocket- 
knife, but, overpowered by numbers, perished 
also under the blows of these murderers. I next 
saw (and that was the last occurrence of which I 
was witness before quitting the ship) the sailors 
who were aloft, slip down by the rigging, and 
get below through the steerage hatchway. They 
were five, I think, in number, and one of them, 
in descending, received a knife-stab in the back. 
I then jumped overboard, to escape a similar fate 
to that of the captain and Mr. M'Kay : the wo- 
men in the canoes, to whom I surrendered my- 
self as a slave, took me in, and bade me hide 
myself under some mats which were in the pi- 
rogues ; which I did. Soon after, I heard the 
discharge of firearms, immediately upon which 
the Indians fled from the vessel, and pulled for 
the shore as fast as possible, nor did they venture 



THE EXPLOSION. 185 

to go alongside the ship again the whole of that 
day. The next day, having seen four men lower a 
boat, and pull away from the ship, they sent some 
pirogues in chase : but whether those men were 
overtaken and murdered, or gained the open sea 

• 

and perished tliere, I never could learn. Noth- 
ing more was seen stirring on board the Tonquin ; 
the natives pulled cautiously around lier, and 
some of the more daring went on board ; at last, 
the savages, finding themselves absolute masters 
of the ship, rushed on board in a crowd to pillage 
her. But very soon, when there were about four 
or five hundred either huddled together on deck, 
or clinging to the sides, all eager for plunder, the 
ship blew up with a horrible noise. " I was on 
the shore," said the Indian, " when the explosion 
took place, saw the great volume of smoke burst 
forth in the spot where the ship had been, and 
high in the air above, arms, legs, heads and 
bodies, flymg in every direction. The tribe ac- 
knowledged a loss of over two hundred of their 
people on that occasion. As for me I remained 
their prisoner, and have been their slave for two 



186 franchere'.s voyage. 

years. It is but now that I have been ransomed 
by my friends. I have told you the truth, and 
hope you will acquit me of having in any way 
participated in that bloody affair." 

Our Indian having finished his discourse, we 
made him presents proportioned to the melan- 
choly satisfaction he had given us in communica- 
ting the true history of the sad fate of our former 
companions, and to the trouble he had taken in 
coming to us ; so that he returned apparently 
well satisfied with our liberality. 

According to the narrative of this Indian, Cap- 
tain Thorn, by his abrupt manner and passionate 
temper, was the primary cause of his own death 
and that of all on board his vessel. Wliat ap- 
pears certain at least, is, that he was guilty of 
unpardonable negligence and imprudence, in not 
causing the boarding netting to be rigged, as is 
the custom of all the navigators who frequent 
this coast, and in suffering (contrary to his in- 
structions) too great a number of Indians to 
come on board at once.* 

* It is equally evident that even at the time when Captain 
Thorn was first notified of the dangerous crowd and threatening 



ANOTHER SUGGESTION. 187 

Captain Smith, of the Albatross, who had 
seen the wreck of the Tonquin, in mentioning to 
us its sad fate, attributed the cause of the disas- 
ter to the rash conduct of a Captain Ayres, of 
Boston. That navigator had taken off, as I have 
mentioned already, ten or a dozen natives of 
New-itty, as hunters, with a promise of bringing 
them back to their country, which promise he 
inhumanly broke by leaving them on some desert 
islands in Sir Francis Drake's Bay. The coun- 
trymen of these unfortunates, indignant at the 
conduct of the American captain, had sworn to 
avenge themselves on the first white men who 
appeared among them. Chance willed it that 
our vessel was the first to enter that bay, and 
the natives but too well executed on our people 
their project of vengeance. 

Whatever may have been the first and princi- 
pal cause of this misfortune (for doubtless it is 

appearance of the natives, a display of firearms would have suf- 
ficed to prevent an outbreak. Had he come on deck with Mr. 
M'Kay and Mr. Lewis, each armed with a musket, and a couple 
of pistols at the belt, it is plain from the timidity the savages after- 
ward displayed, that he might have cleared the ship, probably 
without shedding a drop of blood. — Ed. 



188 franchere's voyage. 

necessary to suppose more than one), seventeen 
white men and twelve Sandwich-Islanders, were 
massacred : not one escaped from the butchery, 
to bring us the news of it, but the Indian of 
Grmjs Harbor. The massacre of our people 
was avenged, it is true, by the destruction of ten 
times the number of their murderers ; but this 
circumstance, which could perhaps gladden the 
heart of a savage, was a feeble consolation (if it 
was any) for civilized men. The death of Mr. 
Alexander M'Kay was an irreparable loss to the 
Company, which would probably have been dis- 
solved by the remaining partners, but for the 
arrival of the energetic Mr. Hunt. Interesting 
as was the recital of the Indian of Gray's Har- 
bor throughout, when he came to the unhappy 
end of that estimable man, marks of regret were 
visibly painted on the countenances of all who 
listened. 

At the beginning of September, Mr. M'Kenzie 
set off, with Messrs. Wallace and Seton, to carry 
a supply of goods to the gentlemen wintering in 
the interior, as well as to inform them of the ar- 



NOTE. 189 

rangements concluded with Mr. Hunt, and to 
enjoin them to send down all their furs, and all 
the Sandwich-Islanders, that the former might be 
shipped for America, and the latter sent back to 
their country. 

Note. 

It will never be known how or by whom the Tonqnin was 
blown up. Some pretend to say that it was the work of* 
James Lewis, but that is impossible, for it appears from the 
narrative of the Indian that he was one of the first persons mur- 
dered. It will be recollected that five men got between decks 
from aloft, during- the affray, and four only were seen to quit the 
ship afterward in the boat. The presumption was that the mis 
sing man must have done it, and in further conversation with the 
Gray's Harbor Indian, he inclined to that opinion, and even 
affirmed that the individual was the ship's armorer, Weeks. "It 
might also have been accidental. There was a large quantity of 
powder in the run immediately under the cabin, and it is not im- 
possible that while the Indians were intent on plunder, in opening 
some of the kegs they may have set fire to the contents. Or 
again, the men, before quitting the ship, may have lighted a slow 
train, which is the most likely supposition of all. 



190 prancheee's voyage. 



CHAPTER X-V. 

Arrival of a Number of Canoes of the Northwest Company. — 
Sale of the Establishment at Astoria to that Company.— Cana- 
dian News. — Arrival of the British Sloop-of-War " Raccoon." 
— Accident on Board that Vessel. — The Captain takes Formal 
Possession of Astoria. — Surprise and Discontent of the Officers 
and Crew. — Departure of the " Raccoon." 

A FEW days after Mr. M'Kenzte left us, we 
were greatly surprised by the appearance of two 
canoes bearing tbe British flag, with a third be- 
tween them, carrying the flag of the United 
States, all rounding Tongue Point. It was no 
other than Mr. M'Kenzie himself, returning with 
Messrs. J. G. M'Tavish and Angus Bethune, of 
the Northwest Company. He had met these 
gentlemen near the first rapids, and had deter- 
mined to return with them to the establishment, 
in consequence of information which they gave 
him. Those gentlemen were in light canoes 



HOSTILE ARMAMENT. 191 

(i. e., without any lading), and formed the van- 
guard to a flotilla of eight, loaded with furs, un- 
der the conduct of Messrs. John Stuart and 
M'Millan. 

Mr. M'Tavish came to our quarters at the fac- 
tory, and showed Mr. M'Dougal a letter which 
had been addressed to the latter by Mr. Angus 
Shaw, his micle, and one of the partners of the 
Northwest Company. Mr. Shaw informed his 
nephew that the ship Isaac Todd had sailed from 
London, with letters of marque, in the month of 
March, in company with the frigate Phcebe, hav- 
ing orders from the government to seize our 
establishment, which had been represented to 
the lords of the admiralty as an important col- 
ony founded by the American government. The 
eight canoes left behind, came up meanwhile, and 
uniting themselves to the others, they formed a 
camp of about seventy-five men, at the bottom of 
a little bay or cove, near our factory. As they 
were destitute of provisions, we supplied them ; 
but Messrs, M'Dougal and M'Kenzie affecting to 
dread a surprise from this British force under 



192 pranchere's voyage. 

our guns, we kept strictly on our guard ; for we 
"were inferior in point of numbers, although our 
position was exceedingly advantageous. 

As the season advanced, and their ship did not 
arrive, our new neighbors found themselves in a 
very disagreeable situation, without food, or mer- 
chandise wherewith to procure it from the natives ; 
viewed by the latter with a distrustful and hostile 
eye, as being our enemies and therefore exposed 
to attack and plunder on their part with impu- 
nity ; supplied with good hunters, indeed, but 
wanting ammunition to render their skill availa- 
ble. Weary, at length, of applying to us inces- 
santly for food (which we furnished them with 
a sparing hand), unable either to retrace their 
steps through the wilderness or to remain in 
their present position, they came to the conclu- 
sion of proposing to buy of us the whcfte estab- 
lishment. 

Placed, as we were, in the situation of expect- 
ing, day by day, the arrival of an English ship- 
of-war to seize upon all we possessed, we listened 
to their propositions. Several meetings and dis- 



SALE TO THE BRITISH. 193 

cussions took place ; the negotiations were pro- 
tracted by the hope of one party that the long- 
expected armed force would arrive, to render the 
purchase unnecessary, and were urged forward 
by the other in order to conclude the affair before 
that occurrence should intervene ; at length the 
price of the goods and furs in the factory was 
agreed upon, and the bargain was signed by both 
parties on the 23d of October. The gentlemen 
of the Northwest Company took possession of 
Astoria, agreeing to pay the servants of the Pa- 
cific Fur • Company (the name which had been 
chosen by Mr. Astor), the arrears of their wages, 
to be deducted from the price of the goods which 
we delivered, to supply them with provi^^ions, and 
give a free passage to those who wished to return 
to Canada over land. The American colors were 
hauled down from the factory, and the British 
run up, to the no small chagrin and mortification 
of those who were American citizens. 

It was thus, that after having passed the seas, 
and suffered all sorts of fiitigues and privations, 

I lost in a moment all my hopes of fortune. I 
9 



104 franchere's voyage. 

could not help remarking that we had no right 
to expect such treatment on the part of the Brit- 
ish government, after the assurances we had re- 
ceived from Mr. Jackson, his majesty's charge 
d'affaires previously to our departure from New 
York. But as I have just intimated, the agents 
of the Northwest Company had exaggerated the 
importance of the factory in the eyes of the Brit- 
ish ministry ; for if the latter had known what it 
really was — a mere trading-post — and that noth- 
ing but the rivalry of the fur-traders of the 
Northwest Company was interested in its de- 
struction, they would never have taken umbrage 
at it, or at least would never have sent a mari- 
time expedition to destroy it. The sequel will 
show that I was not mistaken in this opinion. 

The greater part of the servants of the Pacific 
Fur Company entered the service of the Company 
of the Northwest; the rest preferred to return 
to their country, and I was of the number of 
these last. Nevertheless, Mr. M'Tavish, after 
many ineffectual attempts to persuade me to re- 
main with them, having intimated that the estab- 



NEW ENGAGEMENT. 195 

lishment could not dispense with my services, as 
I was the only person who could assist them in 
their trade, especially for provisions, of which 
they would soon be in the greatest need, I 
agreed with them (Avithout however relinquishing 
my previous engagement with Mr. Astor's agents) 
for five months, that is to say, till the departure 
of the expedition which was to ascend the Colum- 
bia in the spring, and reach Canada by way of 
the Rocky Mountains and the rivers of the inte- 
rior. Messrs. John Stuart and M'Kenzie set off 
about the end of this month, for the interior, in 
order that the latter might make over to the 
former the posts established on the Spokan and 
Okenakan. 

On the 15th of November, Messrs. Alexander 
Stuart and Alexander Henry, both partners of 
the N. W. Company, arrived at the factory, in a 
couple of bark canoes manned by sixteen voya- 
geurs. They had set out from Fort William, on 
Lake Superior, in the month of July. They 
brought us Canadian papers, by which we learned 
that the British arms so far had been in the as- 



196 franchere's voyage. 

cendant. They confirmed also the news that an 
English frigate was coming to take possession of 
our quondam establishment ; they were even sur- 
prised not to see the Isaac Todd lying in the 
road. 

On the morning of the 30th, we saw a large 
vessel standing in under Cape Disappointment 
(which proved in this instance to deserve its 
name) ; and soon after that vessel came to an- 
chor in Baker^s bay. Not knowing whether it 
was a friendly or a hostile sail, we thought it 
prudent to send on board Mr. M'Dougal in a 
canoe, manned by such of the men as had been 
previously in the service of the Pacific Fur Com- 
pany, with injunctions to declare themselves 
Americans, if the vessel was American, and 
Englishmen in the contrary case. While this 
party was on its way, Mr. M'Tavish caused all 
the furs Avhich were marked with the initials of 
the N. W. Company to be placed on board the 
two barges at the Fort, and sent them up the 
rive? above Tongue Point, where they were 
to wait for a concerted signal, that was to in- 



THE RACCOON. 197 

form them wlietlier the new-comers were friends 
or foes. Toward midnight, Mr. Halsey, who 
had accompanied Mr. M'Dougal to the vessel, 
returned to the Fort, and announced to us that 
she was the British sloop-of-war Raccoon, of 26 
guns, commanded by Captain Black, with a com- 
plement of 120 men, fore and aft. Mr. John 
M'Donald, a partner of the N. W. Company, was 
a passenger on the Raccoon, with five voyageurs, 
destined for the Company's service. He had 
left England in the frigate Phcehe, which had 
sailed in company with the Isaac Todd as far as 
Rio Janeiro ; but there falling in with the British 
squadron, the admiral changed the destination 
of the frigate, despatching the sloops -of- war 
Raccoon and Cherub to convoy the Isaac Todd, 
and sent the Phoebe to search for the American 
commodore Porter, who was then on the Pacific, 
capturing all the British whalers and other tra- 
ding vessels he met with. These four vessels 
then sailed in company as far as Cape Horn, 
where they parted, after agreeing on the island 
of Juan Fernandez as a rendezvous. The three 



198 franchere's voyage. 

ships -of- war met, in fact, at that island; but 
after having a long time waited in vain for the 
Isaac Todd, Commodore Hillier (Hillyer?) who 
commanded this little squadron, hearing of the 
injury inflicted by Commodore Porter, on the 
British commerce, and especially on the whalers 
who frequent these seas, resolved to go in quest 
of him in order to give him combat ; and retain- 
ing the Cherub to assist him, detailed the Rac- 
coon to go and destroy the American establish- 
ment on the River Columbia, being assured by 
Mr. M'Donald that a single sloop-of-war would 
be sufficient for that service. 

Mr. M'Donald had consequently embarked, 
with his people, on board the Raccoon. This 
gentleman informed us that they had experienced 
frightful weather in doubling the Cape, and that 
he entertained serious apprehensions for the 
safety of the Isaac Todd, but that if she was 
safe, we might expect her to arrive in the river 
in two or three weeks. The signal gun agreed 
upon, having been fired, for the return of the 
barges, Mr. M'Tavish came back to the Fort 



FATAL ACCIDENT. 199 

with the furs, and was overjoyed to learu the 
arrival of Mr. M'Donald. 

On the 1st of December the Raccoon's gig 
came up to the fort, bringing Mr. M'Donald 
(surnamed Bras Croche, or crooked arm), and 
the first lieutenant, Mr. Sheriff. Both these 
gentlemen were convalescent from the effects of 
an accident which had happened to them in the 
passage between Juan Fernandez and the mouth 
of the Columbia. The captain wishing to clean 
the guns, ordered them to be sealed, that is, 
fired off: during this exercise one of the guns 
hung fire ; the sparks fell into a cartridge tub, 
and setting fire to the combustibles, communi- 
cated also to some priming horns suspended 
above ; an explosion followed, which reached 
some twenty persons ; eight were killed on the 
spot, the rest were severely burnt ; Messrs. 
M'Donald and Sheriff had suffered a great deal ; 
it was with difficulty that their clothes had been 
removed ; and when the lieutenant came ashore, 
he had not recovered the use of his hands. 
Among the killed was an American named Flatty 



200 franchere's toyage. 

who was in the sen-ice of the Northwest Company 
and whose loss these gentlemen appeared ex- 
ceedingly to regret. 

As there were goods destined for the Company 
on board the Raccoon, the schooner Dolly was 
sent to Baker's bay to bring them up : but the 
weather was so bad, and the wind so violent, 
that she did not return till the 12th, bringing up, 
together with the goods, Captain Black, a lieu- 
tenant of marines, four soldiers and as many 
sailors. We entertained our guests as splendidly 
as it lay in our power to do. After dinner, the 
captain caused firearms to be given to the ser- 
vants of the Company, and we all marched under 
arms to the square or platform, where a flag-staff 
had been erected. There the captain took a 
British Union Jack, which he had brought on 
shore for the occasion, and caused it to be run 
up to the top of the staff; then, taking a bottle 
of Madeira wine, he broke it on the flag-staff, de- 
claring in a loud voice, that he took possession of 
the establishment and of the country in the name 
of His Britannic Majesty ; and changed the name 



officers' disappointment. 201 

of Astoria to Fort George. Some few Indian 
chiefs had been got together to witness this 
ceremony, and I explained to them in their own 
language what it signified. Three rounds of 
artillery and musketry were fired, and the health 
of the king was drunk by the parties interested, 
according to the usage on like occasions. 

The sloop being detained by contrary winds, 
the captain caused an exact survey to be made 
of the entrance of the river, as well as of the 
navigable channel between Baker's bay and Fort 
George. The ofiicers visited the fort, turn 
about, and seemed to me in general very much 
dissatisfied with their fool's errand, as they called 
it : they had expected to find a number of Amer- 
ican vessels loaded with rich furs, and had cal- 
culated in advance their share in the booty of 
Astoria. They had not met a vessel, and their 
astonishment was at its height when they saw 
that our establishment had been transferred to 
the Northwest Company, and was under the 
British flag. It will suffice to quote a single ex- 
pression of Captain Black's, in order to show 
9* 



202 franchere's voyage. 

how much they Avere deceived in their expecta- 
tions. The Captain landed after dark; when we 
showed him the next morning the palisades and 
log bastions of the factory, he inquired if there 
was not another fort ; on being assured that there 
was no other, he cried out, with an air of the great- 
est astonishment : — " What ! is this the fort which 
was represented to me as so formidable ! Good 
God ! I could batter it down in two hours with a 
four-pounder ! " 

There were on board the Raccoon two young 
men from Canada, who had been impressed at 
Quebec, when that vessel was there some years 
before her voyage to the Columbia : one of them 
was named Parent, a blacksmith, and was of 
Quebec : the other was from Upper Canada, and 
was named M'Donald. These young persons 
signified to us that they would be glad to remain 
at Fort George : and as there was among our 
men some who would gladly have shipped, we 
proposed to the captain an exchange, but he 
would not consent to it. John Little, a boat- 
builder from New York, who had been on the 



REFLECTIONS. 203 

sick list a long time, was sent on board and 
placed under the care of the sIoojd's surgeon, Mr. 
O'Brien ; the captain engaging to land him at 
the Sandwich Islands. P. D. Jeremie also ship- 
ped himself as under clerk. The vessel hoisted 
sail, and got out of the river, on the 31st of De- 
cember. 

From the account given in this chapter the 
reader will see with what facility the establish- 
ment of the Pacific Fur Company could have es- 
caped capture by the British force. It was only 
necessary to get rid of the land party of the 
Northwest Company — who were completely in 
our power — then remove our effects up the river 
upon some small stream, and await the result. 
The sloop-of-war arrived, it is true ; but as, in 
the case I suppose, she would have found nothing, 
she would have left, after setting fire to our de- 
serted houses. None of their boats would have 
dared follow us, even if the Indians had betrayed 
to them our lurking-place. Those at the head 
of affairs had their own fortunes to seek, and 
thought it more for their interest, doubtless, to 



204 franchere's voyage. . 

act as they did, but that will not clear them in 
the eyes of the world, and the charge of treason 
to Mr. Aster's interests will always be attached 
to their characters. 



NEW EXPEDITION. 205 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Expeclitions to the Interior. — Return of Messrs. John Stuart and 
D. M'Kenzie. — Theft committed by the Natives. — War Party 
against the Thieves. 

On the 3d of January, 1814, two canoes laden 
with merchandise for the interior, were de- 
spatched under the command of Mr. Alexander 
Stuart and Mr. James Keith, with fifteen men 
under them. Two of the latter were charged 
with letters for the posts (of the Northwest 
Company) east of the mountains, containing in- 
structions to the persons in superintendence 
there, to have in readiness canoes and the requi- 
site provisions for a large party intending to go 
east the ensuing spring. I took this opportunity 
of advising my friends in Canada of my intention 
to return home that season. It was the third 
attempt I had made to send news of my exist- 



206 franchere's toyage. 

enco to my relatives and friends : the first JMO 
had miscarried and this was doomed to meet the 
same fate. 

Messrs. J. Stuart and M'Kenzie, who (as M^as 
seen in a previous chapter) had been sent to 
notify the gentlemen in the interior of what had 
taken place at Astoria, and to transfer the win- 
tering posts to the Northwest Company, returned 
to Fort George on the morning of the 6th. They 
stated that they had left Messrs. Clarke and D. 
Stuart behind, with the loaded canoes, and also 
that the party had been attacked }3y the natives 
above the falls. 

As they were descending the river toward 
evening, between the first and second portages, 
they had espied a large number of Indians con- 
gregated at no great distance in the prairie ; 
which gave them some uneasiness. In fact, some 
time after they had encamped, and when all the 
people (tout le monde) were asleep, except Mr. 
Stuart, who was on guard, these savages had 
stealthily approached the camp, and discharged 
some arrows, one of which had penetrated the 



NATIVE ATTACK. 207 

coverlet of one of the men, who was lying near 
the baggage, and had pierced the cartilage of his 
ear ; the pain made him utter a sharp cry, which 
alarmed the whole camp and threw it into an up- 
roar. The natives perceiving it, fled to the 
woods, howling and yelling like so many demons. 
In the morning our people picked up eight arrows 
round the camp : they could yet hear the sav- 
ages yell and whoop, in the woods : but, notwith- 
standing, the party reached the lower end of the 
portage unmolested. 

The audacity which these barbarians had dis- 
played in attacking a party of from forty to 
forty-five persons, made us suppose that they 
would, much more probably, attack the party of 
Mr. Stuart, which was composed of but seven- 
teen men. Consequently, I received orders to 
get ready forthwith a canoe and firearms, in 
order to proceed to their relief. The whole was 
ready in the short space of two hours, and I em- 
barked immediately with a guide and eight men. 
Our instructions were to use all possible diligence 
to overtake Messrs. Stewart and Keith, and to 



208 franchere's voyage. 

convey tliem to the upper end of the last portage ; 
or to return with the goods, if we met too much 
resistance on the part of the natives. We trav- 
elled, then, all that day, and all the night of the 
6th, and on the 7th, till evening. Finding our- 
selves then at a little distance from the rapids, I 
came to a halt, to put the firearms in order, and 
let the men take some repose. About midnight 
I caused them to re-embark, and ordered the 
men to sing as they rowed, that the party whom 
we wished to overtake might hear us as we 
passed, if perchance they were encamped on 
some one of the islands of which the river is full 
in this part. In fact, we had hardly proceeded 
five or six miles, when we were hailed by some 
one apparently in the middle of the stream. We 
stopped rowing, and answered, and were soon 
joined by our people of the expedition, who were 
all descending the river in a canoe. They in- 
formed us that they had been attacked the even- 
ning before, and that Mr. Stuart had been wound- 
ed. We turned about, and all proceeded in 
company toward the fort. In the morning, when 



IXDIAX FIGHT. 209 

we stopped to breakfast, Mr. Keith gave me 
the particulars of the aifair of tlie day preceding. 
Having arrived at the foot of the rapids, they 
commenced the portage on the south bank of the 
river, which is obstructed with boulders, over 
which it was necessary to pass the effects. After 
they had hauled over the two canoes, and a part 
of the goods, the natives approached in great 
numbers, trying to carry off something unob- 
served. Mr. Stuart was at the upper end of the 
portage (the portage being about six hundred 
yards in length), and Mr. Keith accompanied 
the loaded men. ^Aji Indian seized a bag con- 
taining articles of little value, and fled : Mr. 
Stuart, who saw the act, pursued the thief, and 
after some resistance on the latter's part, suc- 
ceeded in making him relinquish his booty. Im- 
mediately he saw a number of Indians armed 
with bows and arrows, approaching him: one of 
them bent his bow and took aim ; Mr. Stuart, on 
his part, levelled his gun at the Indian, warning 
the latter not to shoot, and at the same instant 
received an arrow, which pierced his left shoul- 



210 franchrre's voyage. 

der. He then drew the trigger ; but as it had 
rained all day, the gun missed lire, and before 
he could re-prime, another arrow, better aimed 
than the first, struck him in the left side and 
penetrated between two of his ribs, in the region 
of the heart, and would have proved fatal, no 
doubt, but for a stone-pipe he had fortunately iu 
his side-pocket, and which was broken by the 
arrow ; at the same moment his gun was dis- 
charged, and the Indian fell dead. Several 
others then rushed forward to avenge the death 
of their compatriot ; but two of the men came up 
with their loads and their gun (for these port- 
ages were made arms in hand), and seeing what 
was going forward, one of them threw his pack 
on the ground, fired on one of the Indians and 
brought him down. He got up again, however, 
and picked up his weapons, but the other man 
ran upon him, wrested from him his war-club, 
and despatched him by repeated blows on the 
head with it. The other savages, seeing the 
bulk of our people approaching the scene of com- 
bat, retired and crossed the river. In the mean- 



OUR PEOPLE RETREAT, 211 

time, Mr. Stuart extracted the arrows from his 
body, by the aid of one of the men : the blood 
flowed in abundance from the wounds, and he 
saw that it would be impossible for him to pur- 
sue his journey ; he therefore gave orders for the 
canoes and goods to be carried back to the lower 
end of the portage. Presently they saw a great 
number of pirogues full of warriors coming from 
the opposite side of the river. Our people then 
considered that they could do nothing better than 
to get away as fast as possible ; they contrived 
to transport over one canoe, on which they all 
embarked, abandoning the other and the goods, 
to the natives. While the barbarians were plun- 
dering these effects, more precious in their esti- 
mation than the apples of gold in the garden of 
the Hesperides, our party retired and got out of 
sight. ^ The retreat was, notwithstanding, so 
precipitate, that they left behind an Indian from 
the Lake of the Two Mountains, who was in the 
service of the Company as a hunter. This In- 
dian had persisted in concealing himself behind 
the rocks, meaning, he said, to kill some of those 



212 franchere's voyage. 

thieves, and did not return in time for the em- 
barkation. Mr. Keith regretted this brave man's 
obstinacy, fearing, with good reason, that he 
would be discovered and murdered by the natives. 
We rowed all that day and night, and reached 
the factory on the 9tli, at sunrise. Our first 
care, after having announced the misfortune of 
our people, was to dress the wounds of Mr. 
Stuart, which had been merely bound with a 
wretched piece of cotton cloth. 

The goods which had been abandoned, were 
of consequence to the Company, inasmuch as they 
could not be replaced. It was dangerous, be- 
sides, to leave the natives in possession of some 
fifty guns and a considerable quantity of ammu- 
nition, which they might use against us.* The 
partners, therefore, decided to fit out an expedi- 
tion immediately to chastise the robbers, or at 
least to endeavor to recover the goods. I went, 
by their order, to find the principal chiefs of the" 
neighboring tribes, to explain to them what had 

* However, some cases of guns and kegs of powder were 
thrown into the falls, before the party retreated. 



WARLIKE EXPEDITION. 213 

taken place, and invite them to join us, to which 
they willingly consented. Then, having got 
ready six canoes, we re-embarked on the 10th, 
to the number of sixty-two men, all armed from 
head to foot, and provided with a small brass 
field-piece. 

We soon reached the lower end of the first 
rapid : but the essential thing was wanting to 
our little force ; it was without provisions ; our 
first care then, was to try to procure these. 
Having arrived opposite a village, we perceived 
on the bank about thirty armed savages, who 
seemed to await us firmly. As it was not our 
policy to seem bent on hostilities, we, landed on 
the opposite bank, and I crossed the river with 
five or six men, to enter into parley with them, 
and try to obtain provisions. I immediately be- 
came aware that the village was abandoned, the 
women and children having fled to the woods, 
taking with them all the articles of food. The 
young men, however, offered us dogs, of which 
we purchased a score. Then we passed to a 
second village, where they were already informed 



214 FRANCHEREI5 VOYAGE. 

of our coming. Here we bought forty-five dogs 
and a horse. With this stock we formed an 
encampment on an island called Strawberry 
island. 

Seeing ourselves now provided with food for 
several days, we informed the natives touching 
the motives which had brought us, and announced 
to them that we were determined to, put them all 
to death and burn their villages, if they did not 
bring back in two days the effects stolen on the 
7tli. A party was detached to the rapids, where 
the attack on Mr. Stuart had taken place. We 
found the villages all deserted. Crossing to the 
north bank, we found a few natives, of whom we 
made inquiries respecting the Nipissingue Indian, 
who had been left behind, but they assured us 
that they had seen nothing of him.* 

* This Indian i-eturncd some time after to the factory, but in a 
pitiable condition. After the departure of the canoe, he had con- 
cealed himself behind a rock, and so passed the night. At day-' 
break, fearing to be discovered, he gained the woods and directed 
his steps toward the fort, across a mountainous region. He ar- 
rived at length at the bank of a little stream, which he was at first 
unable to cross. Hunger, in the meantim*?, began to urge him ; 
he might have appeased it with game, of which he saw plenty, 
but unfortunately he had lost the flint of his gun. At last, with ft 



COALPO'S ADVICE. 215 

Not having succeeded in recovering, above the 
rapids, any part of the lost goods, the inhabitants 
all protesting that it was not they, but the vil- 
lages below, which had perpetrated the robbery, 
we descended the river again, and re-encamped 
on Strawberry island. As the intention of the 
partners was to intimidaffe the natives, without 
(if possible) shedding blood, we made a display 
of our numbers, and from time to time fired off 
our little field-piece, to let them see tliat we 
could reach them from one side of the river to 
the other. The Indian Coalpo and his wife, 
who had accompanied us, advised us to make 
prisoner one of the chiefs. We succeeded in 
this design, without incurring any danger. Hav- 
ing invited one of the natives to come and smoke 
with us, he came accordingly : a little after, • 
came another ; at last, one of the chiefs, and he 
one of the most considered among them, also 
came. Being notified secretly of his character 

raft of sticks, he crossed the river, and amvcd at a village, the 
inhabitants of which disarmed him, and made him prisoner. Our 
people hearing where he was, sent to seek him, and gave some 
blankets for his ransom. 



216 franchere's yoYx\.ge. 

by Coalpo, who was concealed in the tent, we 
seized him forthwith, tied him to a stake, and 
placed a guard over him with a naked sword, as 
if ready to cut his head off on the least attempt 
being made by his people for- his liberation. The 
other Indians were then suffered to depart with 
the news for his tribe, that unless the goods 
were brought to us in twenty-four hours, their 
chief would be put to death. Our stratagem 
succeeded : soon after we heard wailing and 
lamentation in the village, and they presently 
brought us part of the guns, some brass kettles, 
and a variety of smaller articles, protesting that 
this was all their share of the plunder. Keeping 
our chief as a hostage, we passed to the other 
village, and succeeded in recovering the rest of 
the guns, and about a third of the other goods. 

Although they had been the aggressors, yet as 
they had had two men killed and we had not 
lost any on our side, we thought it our duty 
to conform to the usage of the country, and 
abandon to them tlie remainder of the stolen 
eifects, to cover, according to their expression, 



RETURN. 217 

the bodies of their two slaiu compatriots. Be- 
sides, we began to liud ourselves short of provis- 
ions, and it would not have been easy to get at 
our enemies to punish them, if they had taken 
refuge in the woods, according to their custom 
when they feel themselves the weaker party. So 
we released our ^Drisoner, and gave him a flag, 
telling him that when he presented it unfurled, 
we should regard it as a sign of peace and 
friendship : but if, when we were passing the 
portage, any one of the natives should have the 
misfortune to come near the baggage, we would 
kill him on the spot. We re-embarked on the 
19th, and on the 22d reached the fort, where we 
made a report of our martial expedition. We 
found Mr. Stuart very ill of his wounds, espe- 
cially of the one in the side, which was so much 
swelled that we had every reason to think the 
arrow had been poisoned. 

If we did not do the savages as much harm as 
we might have done, it was not from timidity but 
from humanity, and in order not to shed human 

blood uselessly. For after all, what good would 
10 



218 franchere's voyage. 

it have done us to have slaughtered some of 
these barbarians, whose crime was not the effect 
of depravity and wickedness, but of an ardent 
and irresistible desire to ameliorate their condi- 
tion ? It must be allowed also that the interest, 
well-understood, of the partners of the North- 
west Company, was opposed to too strongly 
marked acts of hostility on their part : it behooved 
them exceedingly not to make irreconciliable 
enemies of the populations neighboring on the 
portages of the Columbia, which they would so 
often be obliged to pass and repass in future. It 
is also probable that the other natives on the 
banks, as well as of the river as of the sea, 
would not have seen with indifference, their 
comitrymen too signally or too rigorously pun- 
ished by strangers ; and that they would have 
made common cause with the former to resist 
the latter, and perhaps even to drive them from 
the country. 

I must not omit to state that all the firearms 
surrendered by the Indians on this occasion, 
were found loaded with ball, and primed, with 



REMARK. 219 

a little piece of cotton laid over the priming to 
keep the powder dry. This shows how soon 
they would acquire the use of guns, and how 
careful traders should be in intercourse with 
strange Indians, not to teach them their use. 



220 REMARKS. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Description of Tongue Point. — A. Trip to the WUlamet. — Ar- 
rival of W. Hunt in the Brig Pedlar. — Narrative of the Loss 
of the Ship Lark. — Preparations for crossing the Continent. 

The new proprietors of our establishment, 
being dissatisfied with the site we had chosen, 
came to the determination to change it ; after 
surveying botli sides of the river, they found no 
better place than the head-land which we had 
named Tongue point. This point, or to speak 
more accurately, perhaps, this cape, extends 
about a quarter of a mile into the river, being 
connected with the main-land by a low, narrow 
neck, over which the Indians, in stormy weather, 
haul their canoes in passing up and down the 
river ; and terminating in an almost perpendicu- 
lar rock, of about 250 or 300 feet elevation. 
This bold siunmit was covered with a dense 



TONGUE POINT. 221 

forest of pine trees ; tlie ascent from the lower 
neck was gradual and easy ; it abounded in 
springs of the finest water ; on either side it had 
a cove to shelter the boats necessary for a trading 
establishment. This peninsula had truly the 
appearance of a huge tongue. Astoria had been 
built nearer the ocean, but the advantages offered 
by Tongue point more than compensated for its 
greater distance. Its soil, in the rainy season, 
could be drained with little or no trouble ; it 
was a better position to'guard against attacks on 
the part of the natives, and less exposed to that 
of civilized enemies by sea or land in time of 
war. 

All the hands who had returned from the 
interior, added to' those who were already at 
the Fort, consumed, in an incredibly short space 
of time the small stock of provisions which had 
been conveyed by the Pacific Fur Company to 
the Company of the Northwest. It became a 
matter of necessity, therefore, to seek some spot 
where a part, at least, could be sent to subsist. 
With these views I left the fort on the 7£h Feb- 



222 franchere's voyage. 

ruary with a number of men, belonging to the 
old concern, and who had refused to enter the 
service of the new one, to proceed to the estab- 
lishment on the Willamet river, under the charge 
of Mr. Alexander Henry, who had with him a 
number of first-rate hunters. Leaving the Co- 
lumbia to ascend the Willamet, I found the banks 
on either side of that stream well wooded, but 
low and swampy, until I reached the first falls ; 
having passed which, by making a portage, I 
commenced ascending a clear but moderately 
deep channel, against a swift current. The banks 
on either side were bordered with forest^trees, 
but behind that narrow belt, diversified with 
prairie, the landscape was magnificent ; the hills 
were of moderate elevatiouj and rising in an 
amphitheatre. Deer and elk are found here in 
great abundance ; and the post in charge of Mr. 
Henry had been established with a view of keep- 
ing constantly there a number of hunters to pre- 
pare dried venison for the use of the factory. 
On our arrival at the Columbia, considering the 
latitude, we had expected severe winter weather, 



OAK POINT. 223 

such as is experienced in the same latitudes 
east ; but we were soon imdeceived ; the mild- 
ness of the climate never permitted us to trans- 
port fresh provisions from the Willamet to 
Astoria. We had not a particle of salt; and 
the attempts we made to smoke or dry the 
venison proved abortive. 

Having left the men under my charge with 
Mr. Henry, I took leave of that gentleman, and 
returned. At Oak point I found Messrs. Keith 
and Pillet encamped, to pass there the^ season of 
sturgeon-fishing. They informed me that I was 
to stay with them. 

Accordingly I remained at Oak point the rest 
of the winter, occupied in trading with the In- 
dians spread all along the river for some 30 or 
40 miles above, in order to supply the factory 
with provisions. I used to take a boat with four_ 
or five men, visit every fishing station, trade for 
as much fish as would load the boat, and send 
her down to the fort. The surplus fish ti-aded 
in the interval between the departure and return 
of the boat, was cut up, salted and barrelled for 



224 franchere's voyage. 

future use. The salt had been recently obtained 
from a quarter to be presently mentioned. 

About the middle of March Messrs. Keith and 
Fillet both left me and returned to the fort. 
Being now alone, I began seriously to reflect on 
my position, and it was in this interval that I 
positively decided to return to Canada. I made 
inquiries of the men sent up with the boats for 
fish, concerning the preparations for departure, 
but whether they had been enjoined secrecy, or 
were unwilling to communicate, I could learn 
nothing of what was doing below. 

At last I heard that on the 28th February a 
sail had appeared at the mouth of the river. 
The gentlemen of the N. W. Company at first 
flattered themselves that it was the vessel they 
had so long expected. They were soon unde- 
ceived by a letter from Mr. Hunt, which was 
brought to the fort by the Indians of Baker'' s 
bay. That gentleman had purchased at the 
Marquesas islands a brig called The Pedlar : it 
was on that vessel tliat he arrived, having for 
pilot Captain Ngrthrop, formerly commander of 



WRECK OF THE LARK. 225 

the ship Lark. The latter vessel had been out- 
fitted by Mr. Astor, and despatched from New- 
York, in spite of the blockading squadron, with 
supplies for the ci-devant Pacific Fur Company ; 
but unhappily she had been assailed by a furious 
tempest and capsized in lat. 16^ N., and three or 
four hundred miles from the Sandwich Islands. 
The mate, who was sick, was drowned in the 
cabin, and four of the crew perished at the same 
time. The captain had the masts and rigging 
cut away, which caused the vessel to right again, 
though full of water. One of the hands dived 
down to the sail-maker's locker, and got out a 
small sail, which they attached to the bowsprit. 
He dived a second time, and brought up a box 
containing a dozen bottles of wine. For thirteen 
days they had no other sustenance but the flesh 
of a small shark, which they had the good for- 
tune to take, and which they ate raw, and for 
drink, a gill of the wine each man per diem. At 
last the trade winds carried them upon the island 
of Tahouraka, where the vessel went to pieces 

on the reef. The islanders saved the crew, and 
10* 



226 franchere's voyage. 

seized all the goods wliicli floated on the water. 
Mr. Hunt was tlien at Wahoo, find learned 
through some islanders from Morotoi, that some 
Americans had been wrecked on the isle of Ta- 
houraka. He went immediately to take them oft", 
and gave the pilotage of his own vessel to Cap- 
tain Northrop. 

It may be imagined what was the surprise of 
Mr. Hunt when he saw Astoria under the British 
flag, and passed into stranger hands. But the 
misfortune was beyond remedy, and he was ob- 
liged to content himself with taking on board all 
the Americans who were at the establishment, and 
who had not entered the service of the Company 
of the Northwest. Messrs. Halsey, Seton, and 
Farnham were amon g those who embarked . I shall 
have occasion to inform the reader of the part each 
of them played, and how they reached their homes. 

When I heard that Mr. Hunt was in the river, 

and knowing that the overland expedition was to 

♦ set out early in April, I raised camp at Oak 

point, and reached the fort on the 2d of that 

pionth. But the brig Pedlar had that very day 



I QUIT ASTORIA. 227 

got outside the river, after several fruitless at- 
tempts, in one of which she narrowly missed be- 
ing lost on the bar. 

I would gladly have gone in her, had I but 
arrived a day sooner. I found, however, all 
things prepared for the departure of the canoes, 
which was to take place on the 4th. I got ready 
the few articles I possessed, and in spite of the 
very advantageous offers of the gentlemen of the 
N. W. Company, and their reiterated persuasions, 
aided by the crafty M'Dougal, to induce me to 
remain, at least one year more, I persisted in my 
resolution to leave the coimtry. The journey I 
was about to undertake was a long one : it would 
be accompanied with great fatigues and many 
privations, and even by some dangers ; but I was 
used to privations and fatigues ; I had braved 
dangers of more than one sort ; and even had it 
been otherwise, the ardent desire of revisiting 
my country, my relatives, and my friends, the 
hope of finding myself, in a few months, in their 
midst, would have made me overlook every other 
consideration. 



228 francheee's yoyage. 

I am about, then, to quit the banks of the 
river Columbia, and conduct the reader through 
the mountain passes, over the plains, the forests, 
and the lakes of our continent : but I ought first 
to give him at least an idea of the manners and 
customs of the inhabitants, as well as of the 
principal productions of the country that I now 
quit, after a sojourn of three years. This is what 
I shall try to do in the following chapters.* 

* Some of my readers would, no doubt, desire some scientific 
details on the botany and natural history of this counlrj'. That 
is, in fact, what they ought to expect from a man who had travel- 
led for his pleasure, or to make discoveries : but the object of my 
travels was not of this description ; my occupations had no rela- 
tion with science; and, as I have said in my preface, I was not, 
and am not now, either a naturalist or a botanist. 



GEOGRAPHY. 229 



CHAPTER XYIIL 

Siluation of the Columbia River. — Qualities of its Soil. — Climate, 
&c. — Vegetable and Animul Productions of the Country. 

The mouth of the Columbia river is situated in 
46° 19' north latitude, and 125° or 126° of 
longitude west of the meridian of Greenwich. 
The highest tides are very little over nine or ten 
feet, at its entrance, and are felt up stream for a 
distance of twenty-five or thirty leagues. 

During the three years I spent there, the cold 
never was much below the freezing point ; and I 
do not think the heat ever exceeded 76^. West- 
erly winds prevail from the early part of spring, 
and during a part of the summer ; that wind gen- 
erally springs up with the flood tide, and tempers 
the heat of the day. The northwest wind pre- 
vails during the latter part of summer and com- 



230 ' franchere's voyage. 

mencement of autumn. This last is succeeded 
by a southeast wind, which blows almost without 
intermission from the beginning of October to the 
end of December, or commencement of January. 
This interval is the rainy season, the most disa- 
greeable of the year. Fogs (so thick that some- 
times for days no object is discernible for five or 
six hundred yards from the beach), are also very 
prevalent. 

The surface of the soil consists (in the valleys) 
of a layer of black vegetable mould, about five or 
six inches thick at most ; under this layer is 
found another of gray and loose, but extremely 
cold earth ; below which is a bed of coarse sand 
and gravel, and next to that pebble or hard rock. 
On the more elevated parts, the same black ve- 
getable mould is found, but much thinner, and 
under it is the trap rock. We found along the 
seashore, south of Point Adams, a bank of earth 
white as chalk, which we used for white-washing 
our walls. The natives also brought us several 
specimens of blue, red and yellow earth or clay, 
which they said was to be found at a great dis- 



VEOETATION. 231 

tauce south ; and also a sort of shining earth, 
resembling lead ore.* "We found no limestone, 
although we burnt several kilns, but never could 
get one ounce of lime. 

We had brought with us from New York a 
variety of garden seeds, which were put in the 
gromid in the month of May, 1811, on a rich 
piece of land laid out for the purpose on a slo- 
ping ground in front of our establishment. The 
garden had a fine appearance in the month of 
August ; but although the plants were left in the 
ground until December, not one of them came to 
maturity, with the exception of the radishes, the 
turnips, and the potatoes. The turnips grew to 
a prodigious siz6 ; one of the largest we had the 
curiosity to weigh and measure ; its circumfer- 
ence was thirty-three inches, its weight fifteen 
and a half pounds. The radishes were in full 
blossom in the month of December, and were left 
in the ground to perfect the seeds for the ensuing 
season, but they were all destroyed by the ground 
mice, who hid themselves under the stumps which 

* Plumbaso. 



282 franchere's voyage. 

we had not rooted out, and infested our garden. 
With all the car^ we could bestow on them 
during the passage from New York, only twelve 
potatoes were saved, and even these so shrivelled 
up, that we despaired of raising any from the 
few sprouts that still gave signs of life. / Never- 
theless we raised one hundred and ninety pota- 
toes the first season, and after sparing a few 
plants for our inland traders, we planted about 
fifty or sixty hills, which produced five bushels 
the second year; about two of these were planted, 
and gave us a welcome crop of fifty bushels in 
the year 1813.- 

It would result from these facts, that the soil 
on the banks of the river, as far as tide water, or 
for a distance of fifty or sixty miles, is very little 
adapted for agriculture ; at all events, vegetation 
is very slow. It may be that the soil is not ev- 
erywhere so cold as the spot we selected for our 
garden, and some other positions might have 
given a better reward for our labor : this suppo- 
sition is rendered more than probable when we 
take into consideration the great difference in 



TREES. 233 

the indigenous vegetables of the country in differ- 
ent localities^ 

The forest trees'^most common at the mouth of 
the river and near our establishment, were cedar, 
hemlock, white and red spruce, and alder. There' 
were a few dwarf white and gray ashes ; and 
here and there a soft maple. The alder grows 
also to a very large size ; I measured some of 
twelve to fifteen inches diameter ; the wood was 
used by us in preference, to make charcoal for 
the blacksmith's forge. But the largest of all 
the trees that I saw in the country, was a white 
spruce : this tree, which had lost its top branches, 
and bore evident' marks of having been struck by 
lightning, was a mere, straight trunk of about 
eighty to one hundred feet in height ; its bark 
whitened by age, made it very conspicuous among 
the other trees with their brown bark and dark 
foliage, like a huge column of white marble. 
It stood on the slope of a hill immediately in the 
rear of our palisades. Seven of us placed our- 
selves round its trunk, and we could not embrace 
it by extending our arms and touching merelythe 



234 frxVNCHERe's voyage. 

tips of our lingers ; we measured it afterf\/"ard 
in a more regular manner, and found it forty-two 
feet in circumference. It kept the same size, or 
nearly the same, to the very top. 

We had it in contemplation at one time to con- 
struct a circular staircase to its summit, and 
erect a platform thereon for an observatory, but 
more necessary and pressing demands on our 
time made us abandon the project. 

A short distance above Astoria, the oak and 
ash are plentiful, but neither of these is of much 
value or beauty. 

Prom the middle of June to the middle of 
October, we had abundance of wild fruit ; first, 
strawberries, almost white, small but very sweet ; 
then raspberries, both red and orange color. 
These grow on a busli sometimes twelve fee^ in 
height : they are not sweet, but of a large size. 

The months of July and August furnish a small 
berry of an agreeable, slightly acid flavor ; this 
berry grows on a slender bush of some eight to 
nine feet high, with small round leaves ; they are 
in size like a wild cherry : some are blue, while 



FRUITS. 235 

others are of a cherry red : the last being smaller ; 
they have no pits, or stones in them, but seeds, 
such as are to be seen in currants. 

I noticed in the month of August another berry 
growing in bunches or grapes like the currant, 
on a bush very similar to the currant bush : the 
leaves of this shrub resemble those of the laurel : 
they are very thick and always green. The fruit 
is oblong, and disposed in two rows on the stem : 
the extremity of the berry is open, having a little 
speck or tuft like that of an apple. It is not of 
a particularly fine flavor, but it is wholesome, 
and one may eat a quantity of it, without incon- 
venience. The natives make great use, of it ; 
they prepare it for the winter by bruising and 
drying it ; after which it is moulded into cakes 
according to fancy, and laid up for use. There 
is also a great abundance of cranberries, which 
proved very useful as an antiscorbutic. 

We found also the whortleberry, chokecher- 
ries, gooseberries, and black currants with wild 
crab-apples : these last grow in clusters, are of 
small size and very tart. On the upper part of 



236 franckkre's voyage. 

the river are found blackberries, hazel-nuts, 
acorns, &c. The country also possesses a great 
variety of nutritive roots : the natives make great 
use of those which have the virtue of curing or 
preventing the scurvy. We ate freely of them 
with the same intention, and with the same suc- 
cess. One of these roots, which much resembles 
a small onion, serves them, in some sort, in place 
of cheese. Having gathered a sufficient quan- 
tity, they bake them with red-hot stones, until 
the steam ceases to ooze from the layer of grass 
and earth with which the roots are covered ; then 
they pound them into a paste, and make the 
paste into loaves, of five or six poimds weight : 
the taste is not unlike liquorice, but not of so 
sickly a sweetness. Wlien we made our first 
voyage up the river the natives gave us square 
biscuits, very well worked, and printed with dif- 
ferent figures. These are made of a white root, 
pounded, reduced to paste, and dried in the sun. 
They call it Chapaleel : it is not very palatable, 
nor very nutritive. 

But the principal food of the natives of the Co- 



FISH. 237 

lumbia is fish. The salmon-fishery begins in 
July : that fish is here of an exquisite flavor, but 
it is extremely fat and oily ; which renders it un- 
wholesome for those who are not accustomed to 
it, and who eat too great a quantity : thus several 
of our people were attacked with diarrhoea in a 
few days after we began to make this fish our 
ordinary sustenance ; but they found a remedy 
in the raspberries of the country which have an 
astringent property. 

The months of August and September furnish 
excellent sturgeon. This fish*varies exceedingly 
in size ; I have seen some eleven feet long ; and 
we took one that weighed, after the removal of 
the eggs and intestines, three hundred and ninety 
pounds. We took out nine gallons of roe. The 
sturgeon does not enter the river in so great 
quantities as the salmon. 

In October and November we had salmon too, 
but of a quite different species — lean, dry and 
insipid. It difiers from the other sort in form 
also ; having very long teeth, and a hooked nose 
like the beak of a parrot. Our men termed it in 



238 franchere's voyage. 

derision " seven bark salmon," because it had 
almost no nutritive substance. 

February brings a small fish about the size of 
a sardine. It has an exquisite flavor, and is 
taken in immense quantities, by means of a scoop 
net, which the Indians, seated in canoes, plunge 
into the schools : but the season is short, not 
even lasting two weeks. 

The principal quadrupeds of the country are 
the elk, the black and white tailed deer ; four 
species of bear, distinguished chiefly by the color 
of the fur or poil, to wit, the black, brown, white 
and grisly bear ; the grisly bear is extremely fe- 
rocious ; the white is found on the seashore 
toward the north ; the wolf, the panther, the 
catamount, the lynx, the raccoon, the ground 
hog, opossum, mink, fisher, beaver, and the land 
and sea otter.* The sea otter has the handsom- 
est fur that is known ; the skin surpasses that of 
the land variety in size and in the beauty of the 
poil; the most esteemed color is the silver gray, 

* Horses aio abundant up the viver; but they arc not indige- 
nous to the country. They will be spoken of in a future chapter. 



BIRDS. 239 

which is highly prized in the Indies, and com- 
mands a great price. 

The most remarkable birds are the eagle, the 
turkey-buzzard, the hawk, pelican, heron, gull, 
cormorant, crane, swan, and a great variety of 
wild ducks and geese. The pigeon, woodcock, 
and pheasant, are found in the forests as with us. 



240 feancheee's voyage. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Manners, Customs, Occupations, &c., of the Natives on the River 
Columbia. 

The natives. iuTiabiting on the Columbia, from 
the mouth of that river to the falls, that is to say, 
on a space extending about 250 miles from east 
to west, are, generally speaking, of low stature, 
few of them passing five feet six inches, and 
many not even five feet. They pluck out the 
beard, in the manner of the other Indians of North 
America ; but a few of the old nien only suffer a 
tuft to grow upon their chins. On arriving among 
them we were exceedingly surprised to see that 
they had almost all flattened heads. This con- 
figuration is not a natural deformity, but an effect 
of art, caused by compression of the skull in in- 
fancy. It shocks strangers extremely, especially at 



SLAVES. 241 

first sight ; nevertheless, among these barbarians 
it is an indispensable ornament : and when we 
signified to them how much this mode of flattening 
the forehead appeared to us to violate nature and 
good taste, thej answered that it was only slaves 
who had not their heads flattened. The slaves, 
in fact, have the usual rounded head, and they 
are not permitted to flatten the foreheads of their 
children, destined to bear the chains of their 
sires. The natives of the Columbia procure 
these slaves from the neighboring tribes, and 
from the interior, in exchange for beads and furs. 
They treat them with humanity while their ser- 
vices are useful, but as soon as they become in- 
capable of labor, neglect them and suffer them 
to perish of want. When dead, they ;hrow their 
bodies, without ceremony, under the stump of an 
old decayed tree, or drag them to the woods to 
be devoured by the wolves and vultures. 

The Indians of the Columbia are of a light 
copper color, active in body, and, above all, ex- 
cellent swimmers. They are addicted to theft, or 

rather, they make no scruple of laying hands on 
11 



242 franchere's voyage. 

whatever suits them in the property of strangers, 
whenever they can find an opportunity. The 
goods and effects of European manufacture are so 
precious in the eyes of these barbarians, tliat 
they rarely resist the temptation of stealing 
them. 

These savages are not addicted to intempe- 
rance, unlike, in that respect the other American 
Indians, if we must not also except the Patago- 
nians, who, like the Flatheads, regard intoxicating 
drinks as poisons, and drunkenness as disgrace- 
ful. I will relate a fact in point: one of the 
sons of the chief Comeomly being at the estab- 
lishment one day, some of the gentlemen amused 
themselves with making him drink wine, and he 
was very soon drunk. He was sick in conse- 
quence, and remained in a state of stupor for two 
days. The old chief came to reproach us, saying 
that we had degraded his son by exposing him 
to the ridicule of the slaves, and besought us not 
to induce him to take strong liquors in future. 

The men go entirely naked, not concealing any 
part of their bodiew.^ Only in winter they throw 



DEESS OF THE WOMEN. 243 

over the shoulders a panther's skin, or else a 
sort of mantle made of the skins of wood-rats 
sewed together. In rainy weather I have seen 
them wear a mantle of rush mats, like a Roman 
toga, or the vestment which a* priest wears in 
celebrating mass ; thus equipped, and furnished 
with a conical hat made from fibrous roots and 
impermeable, they may call themselves rain-proof. 
The women, in addition to the mantle of skins, 
wear a petticoat made of the cedar bark, which 
they attach round the girdle, and which reaches 
to the middle of the thigh. It is a little longer 
behind than before, and is fabricated in the fol- 
lowing manner: They strip off the fine bark of 
the cedar, soak it as one soaks hemp, and when 
it is drawn out into fibres, work it into a fringe ; 
then with a strong cord they bind the fringes 
together. With so poor a vestment they contrive 
to satisfy the requirements of modesty ; when 
they stand it drapes them fairly enough; and 
when, they squat down in their manner, it falls 
between their legs, leaving nothing" exposed but 
the Ijare knees and thighs. Some of the yoimger 



244 feanchere's voyage. 

■women twist the fibres of bark into small cords, 
knotted at the ends, and so form the petticoat, 
disposed in a fringe, like the first, but more 
easily kept clean and of better appearance. 

Cleanliness is^not a virtue among these fe- 
males, who, in that respect, resemble the other 
Indian women of the continent. They anoint 
the body and dress the hair with fish oil, which 
does not diffuse an agreeable perfume. Their 
hair (which both sexes wear long) is jet black ; 
it is badly combed, but parted in the middle, as 
is the custom of the sex everywhere, and kept 
shining by the fish-oil before-mentioned. Some- 
times, in imitation of the men, they paint the 
whole body with a red earth mixed with fish-oil. 
Their ornaments consist of bracelets of brass, 
which they wear indifierently on the wrists and 
ankles ; of strings of beads of different colors 
(they give a preference to the blue), and dis- 
played in great profusion around the neck, and 
on the arms and legs ; and of white shells, called 
Ilaiqua, which are their ordinary circulating 
medium. These shells arc found beyond the 



FEMALE OCCUPATIONS. 245 

straits of Juan de Fuca, and are from one to 
four inches long, and about half an inch in diam- 
eter : they are a little curved and naturally 
perforated : the longest are most valued. The 
price of all commodities is reckoned in these 
sliells ; a fathom string of the largest of them is 
"worth about ten beaver-skins. 

Although a little less slaves than the greater 
part of the Indian women elsewhere, the women 
on the Columbia are, nevertheless, charged with 
the most painful labors ; they fetch water and 
wood, and carry the goods in their frequent 
changes of residence ; they clean the fish and cut 
it up for drying ; they prepare the food and cook 
the fruits in their season. Among their principal 
occupations is that of making rush mats, baskets 
for gathering roots, and hats very ingeniously 
wrought. As they want little clothing, they do 
not sew much, and the men have the needle in 
hand oftener than they. 

The men are not lazy, especially during the 
fishing season. Not being hunters, and eating, 
consequently, little flesh-meat (although they are 



246 franchere's voyage. 

fond of it), fisli makes, as I have observed, their 
principal diet. Thej profit, therefore, by the 
season Avhen it is to be had, by taking as much 
as they can ; knowing that the intervals will be 
periods of famine and abstinence, unless they 
provide sufficiently beforehand. 

Their canoes are all made of cedar, and of a 
single trunk : we saw some which were five feet 
wide at midships, and thirty feet in length; these 
are the largest, and will carry from 25 to 30 
men ; the smallest will carry but two or three. 
The l)ows terminate in a very elongated point, 
running out four or five feet from the water line. 
It constitutes a separate piece, very ingeniously 
attached, and serves to break the surf in landing, 
or the wave on a rough sea. In landing they 
put the canoe round, so as to strike the beach 
stern on. Their oars or paddles are made of 
ash, and are about five feet long, with a broad 
blade, in the shape of an inverted crescent, and 
a cross at the top, like the handle of a crutch. 
The object of the crescent shape of the blade is 
to be able to draw it, edge-wise, through the 



THETR HOUSES. 247 

water without making any noise, when they hunt 
the sea -otter, an animal which can only be 
caught when it is lying asleep on the rocks, and 
which has the sense of hearing very acute. All 
their canoes are painted red, and fancifully deco- 
rated. 

Their houses, constructed of cedar, are re- 
markable for their form and size : some of them 
are one hundred feet in length by thirty or 
forty feet in width. They are constructed as 
follows : An oblong square of the intended size 
of the building is dug out to the depth of two 
or three feet ; a double row of cedar posts is 
driven into the earth about ten feet apart; be- 
tween these the planks are laid, overlapping each 
other to the requisite height. The roof is formed 
by a ridge-pole laid on taller posts, notched to 
receive it, and is constructed with rafters and 
planks laid clapboard-wise, and secured by cords 
for want of nails. When the house is designed 
for several families, there is a door for each, and 
a separate fireplace ; the smoke escapes through 
an aperture formed by removing one of the 



248 franchere's voyage. 

boards of the roof. The door is low, of an oval 
shape, and is provided with a ladder, cut out of 
a log, to descend into the lodge. The entrance 
is generally effected stern-foremost. 

The kitchen utensils consist of plates of ash- 
wood, bowls of fibrous roots, and a wooden ket- 
tle : with these they succeed in cooking their fish 
and meat in less time than we take with the help 
of pots and stewpans. See how they do it ! 
Having heated a number of stones red-hot, they 
j)lunge them, one by one, in the vessel which is 
to contain the food to be prepared ; as soon as 
the water boils, they put in the fish or meat, with 
some more heated stones on top, and cover up 
the whole with small rush mats, to retain the 
steam. In an incredibly short space of time 
the article is taken out and placed on a wooden 
platter, perfectly done and very palatable. The 
broth is taken out also, with a ladle of wood 
or horn. 

It will be asked, no doubt, what instruments 
these savages use in the construction of their 
canoes and their houses. To cause their patience 



THEIR TOOLS. 249 

and industry to 'be admired as much as they 
deserve, it will be sufficient for me to mention 
that we did not find among them a single hatchet : 
their only tools consisted of an inch or half-inch 
chisel, usually made of an old file, and of a mal- 
let, which was nothing but an oblong stone. 
With these wretched implements, and wedges 
made of hemlock knots, steeped in oil and 
hardened by the fire, they would undertake to 
cut down the largest cedars of the forest, to 
dig them out and fashion them into canoes, to 
split them, and get out the boards wherewith to 
build their houses. Such achievements with 
such means, are a marvel of ingenuity and 
patience. 

11* 



250 franchere's voyage. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Manners and Customs of the Natives continued. — Their Wars. — 
Their Marriages. — Medicine Men. — Funeral Ceremonies. — 
Religious Notions. — Language. 

The politics of tlie natives of the Columbia are 
a simple affair : each village has its chief, but 
that chief does not seem to exercise a great au- 
thority over his fellow-citizens. Nevertheless, at 
his death, they pay him great honors : they use 
a kind of mourning, which consists in painting 
the face with black, in lieu of gay colors ; they 
chant his funeral song or oration for a whole 
month. The chiefs are considered in proportion 
to their riches : such a chief has a great many 
wives, slaves, and strings of beads — he is ac- 
counted a great chief. These barbarians approach 
in that respect to certain civilized nations, among 
whom the worth of a man is estimated by the 
quantity of gold he possesses. 



MODE OF MAKING WAR. 251 

As all the villages form so many independent 
sovereignties, differences sometimes arise, wheth- 
er between the chiefs or the tribes. Ordinarily, 
these terminate by compensations equivalent to 
the injury. But when the latter is of a grave 
character, like a murder (which is rare), or the 
abduction of a woman (which is very common), 
the parties, having made sure of a numlier of 
young braves to aid them, prepare for war. Be- 
fore commencing hostilities, however, they give 
notice of the day when they will proceed to at- 
tack the hostile village ; not following in that 
respect the custom of almost all other American 
Indians, who are wont to burst upon their enemy 
unawares, and to massacre or carry off men, wo- 
men, and children ; these people, on the contrary, 
embark in their canoes, which on these occasions 
are paddled by the women, repair to the hostile 
village, enter into parley, and do all thoj can to 
terminate the affair amicably : sometimes a third 
party becomes mediator between the first two, 
and of course observes an exact neutrality. If 
those who seek justice do not obtain it to their 



252 franchere's voyage. 

satisfaction, they retire to some distance, and tlie 
combat begins, and is continued for some time 
with fury on both sides ; but as soon as one or 
two men are killed, the party which has lost 
these, owns itself beaten and the battle ceases. 
If it is the people of the village attacked who 
are worsted, the others do not retire without re- 
ceiving presents. When the conflict is post- 
poned till the next day (for they never fight but 
in open daylight, as if to render nature witness 
of their exploits), they keep up fri^htful cries all 
night long, and, when they are sufficiently near 
to understand each other, defy one another by 
menaces, railleries, and sarcasms, like the heroes 
of Homer and Virgil. The women and children 
are always removed from the village before the 
action. 

Their combats are almost all maritime : for 
thpy fight ordinarily in their pirogues, which they 
take care to careen, so as to present the broad- 
side to the enemy, and half lying do^vn, avoid 
the greater part of the arrows let fly at them. 

But the chief reason of the bloodlessness of 



TTTFIR WEAPONS, 253 

their combats is the inefficiency of their offensive 
weapons, and the excellence of their defensive 
armor. Their offensive arms are merely a bow 
and arrow, and a kind of double-edged sabre, 
about two and a half feet long, and six inches 
wide in the blade : they rarely come to sufficiently 
close quarters to make use of the last. For de- 
fensive armor they wear a cassock or tunic of elk- 
skin double, descending to the ankles, with holes 
for the arms. It is impenetrable by their arrows, 
which can not pierce two thicknesses of leather ; 
and as their heads are also covered with a sort 
of helmet, the neck is almost the only part in 
which they can be wounded. They have another 
kind of corslet, made like the corsets of our la- 
dies, of splinters of hard wood interlaced with 
nettle twine. The warrior who wears this cuirass 
docs not use the tunic of elk-skin ; he is conse- 
quently less protected, but a great deal more 
free ; the said tunic being very heavy and very 
stiff. 

It is almost useless to observe that, in their 
military expeditions, they have their bodies and 



254 franchere's voyage. 

faces daubed with different paints, often of the 
most extravagant designs. I remember to have 
seen a war-chief, with one exact half of his face 
painted white and the other half black. 

Their marriages are conducted with a good 
deal of ceremony. When a young man seeks a 
girl in marriage, his parents make the proposals 
to those of the intended bride, and when it has 
been agreed upon what presents the future bride- 
groom is to oifer to the parents of the bride, all 
parties assemble at the house of the latter, 
whither the neighbors are invited to witness the 
contract. The presents, which consist of slaves, 
strings of beads, copper bracelets, haiqua shells, 
. &c. , are distributed by the young man, who, on 
his part receives as many, and sometimes more, 
according to the means or the munificence of the 
parents of his betrothed. The latter is then led 
forward by the old matrons and presented to the 
young man, who takes her as his wife, and all re- 
tire to their quarters. 

The men are not very scrupulous in their choice, 
and take small pains to inform themselves what 



MARRIAGES. 255 

conduct a young girl lias observed before her 
nuptials ; and it must be owned that few mar- 
riages would take place, if the youth would only 
espouse maidens without reproach on the score 
of chastity ; for the unmarried girls are by no 
means scrupulous in that particular, and their 
parents give them, on that head, full liberty. But 
once the marriage is contracted, the spouses 
observe toward each other an inviolable fidelity ; 
adultery is almost unknown among them, and 
the woman who should be guilty of it would be 
punished with death. At the same time, the 
husband may repudiate his wife, and the latter 
may then unite herself in marriage to another 
man. Polygamy is permitted, indeed is cus- 
tomary; there are some who have as many 
as four or five wives ; and although it often 
happens that the husband loves one better than 
the rest, they never show any jealousy, but live 
together in the most perfect concord.* 

*■ This appears fmpiobable, and is, no doubt, overstated; but so 
far as it is true, only shows the degradation of these women, and 
the Eibsence of moral love on both sides. The indifference to 
virgin chastity described by Mr. F., is a characteristic of bnrbar- 



256 fraxchere's voyage 

There arc charlatans everywhere, but they are 
more numerous among savages than anywhere 
else, because among these ignorant and supersti- 
tious people the trade is at once more profitable 
and less dangerous. As soon as a native of the 
Columbia is indisposed, no matter what the 
malady, they send for the medicine man, who 
treats the patient in the absurd manner usually 
adopted by these impostors, and with such vio- 
lence of manipulation, that often a sick man, 
whom a timely bleeding or purgative would have 
saved, is carried off by a sudden death. 

They deposite their dead in canoes, on rocks 
sufficiently elevated not to be overflowed by the 
spring freshets. By the side of the dead are laid 
his bow, his arrows, and some of liis fishing 

ous nations in general, and is explained by the principle stated in 
the next note below ; the savage state being essentially one in which 
the supernatural bond of human fellowship is snapped : it is (as 
it has been called) the state of nature, in which continence 
is practically impossible ; and what men can not have, that they 
soon cease to prize. The same utter indifference to the past con- 
duct of the girls they marry is mentioned by Mayhew as existing 
among the costcrmongers and street population of Lonjjon, whom 
he well likens to the barbarous tribes lying on the outskirts of more 
ancient nations. — Ed. 



WORSHIP. 257 

implements ; if it is a woman, her "beads and 
bracelets : the wives, the relatives and the slaves 
of the defunct cut their hair in sign of grief, and 
for several days, at the rising and setting of the 
sun, go to some distance from the village to 
chant a funeral song. 

These people have not, properly speaking, a 
public worship.* I could never perceive, during 
my residence among them, that they worshipped 
any idol. Tliey had, nevertheless, some small 
sculptured figures ; but they appeared to hold 
them in light esteem, offering to barter them for 
trifles. 

Having travelled with one of the sons of the 
chief of the Chinooks (Comcomly), an intelligent 
and communicative young man, I put to him seve- 
ral questions touching their religious belief, and 

* It is Coleridge who observes that every tribe is harbarous 
which has no recognised piibh'c worship or cult, and no regular 
priesthood as opposed to self-constituted conjurors. It is, in fact, 
by public worshiji alone that human society is organized and 
vivified ; and it is impossible to maintain such worship without a 
sacerdotal order, however it be constituted. No cullvre vithout a 
^lU, is the result of the study of the races of mankind. Hence 
those who would desti'oy religion are the enemies of civiliza- 
tion. — Ed. 



258 franchere's voyage. 

the following is, in substance, what he told me 
respecting it : Men, according to their ideas, were 
created by a divinity whom they name Etalapass; 
but they were imperfect, having a mouth that 
was not opened, eyes that were fast closed, hands 
and feet that were not moveable ; in a word, they 
were rather statues of flesh, than living men. A 
second divinity, whom they call Ecannum, less 
powerful, but more benign than the former, hav- 
ing seen men in their state of imperfection, took 
a sharp stone and laid open their mouths and 
eyes ; he gave agility, also, to their feet, and 
motion to their hands. This compassionate di- 
vinity was not content with conferring these first 
benefits ; he taught men to make canoes, paddles, 
nets, and, in a word, all the tools and instru- 
ments they use. He did still more : he threw 
great rocks into the river, to obstruct the ascent 
of the salmon, in order that they might take as 
many as they wanted. 

The natives of the Columbia further believe, 
that the men who have been good citizens, good 
fathers, good husbands, and good fishermen, who 



KELIGIOUS NOTIONS. 259 

have not committed murder, &c., will be perfect- 
ly happy after their death, and will go to a coun- 
try where they will find fish, fruit, &c., in abun- 
dance; and that, on the contrary, those who 
have lived wickedly, will inliabit a country of 
fasting and want, where they will eat nothing 
but bitter roots, and have nothing to drink but 
salt water. 

If these notions in regard to the origin and 
future destiny of man are not exactly conformed 
to sound reason or to divine revelation, it will be 
allowed that they do not offer the absurdities 
with which the mythologies of many ancient na- 
tions abound.* The article which makes skill in 
fishing a virtue worthy of being compensated in 
the other world, does not disfigure the salutary 
and consoling dogma of the immortality of the 

* It seems clear that this Indian mythology is ft form of the 
primitive tradition obscured by symbol. The creation of man by 
the Supreme Divinity, but in an imperfect state ("his eyes not 
yet opened"), his deliverance from that condition by an inferior 
but more beneficent deity (the Satan of the Bible), and the prog- 
ress of the emancipated and enlightened being, in the arts of 
industiy, are clearly set forth. Thus the devil has his cosmogony 
as well as the Almighty, and his tradition in opposition to the 
divine. — Ed, 



260 fraxchere's voyage. 

soul, and that of future rewards and punisli- 
ments, so much as one is at first tempted to 
think ; for if we reflect a little, we shall discover 
that the skilful fisherman, in laboring for himself, 
labors also for society ; he is a useful citizen, 
who contributes, as much as lies in his power, to 
avert from his fellow-men the scourge of famine ; 
he is a religious man, who honors the divinity by 
making use of his benefits. Surely a great deal 
of the theology of a future life prevalent among 
civilized men, does not excel this in profundity. 

It is not to be expected that men perfectly ig- 
norant, like these Indians, should be free from 
superstitions : one of the most ridiculous they 
have, regards the method of preparing and eating 
fish. In the month of July, 1811, the natives 
brought us at first a very scanty supply of the 
fresh salmon, from the fear that we would cut 
the fish crosswise instead of lengtliwise ; being 
persuaded that if we did so, the river would be 
obstructed, and the fishing ruined. Having re- 
proached the chief on that account, they brought 
us a greater quantity, but all cooked, and which, 



INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY. 261 

not to displease them, it was necessary to eat 
before sunset. Re-assured at last by our solemn 
promises not to cut the fish crosswise, they sup- 
plied us abundantly during the remainder of the 
season. 

In spite of the vices that may be laid to the 
charge of the natives of the Columbia, I regard 
them as nearer to a state of civilization than any 
of the tribes wlio dwell east of the Rocky moun- 
tains. They did not appear to me so attached 
to their customs that they could not easily adopt 
those of civilized nations : they would dress 
themselves willingly in the European mode, if they 
had the means. To encourage this taste, we lent 
pantaloons to the chiefs who visited us, when 
they wished to enter our houses, never allowing 
them to do it in a state of nudity. They possess, 
in an eminent degree, the qualities opposed to 
indolence,improvidencc,and stupidity: the chiefs, 
above all, are distinguished for their good sense 
and intelligence. Generally speaking, they have 
a ready intellect and a tenacious memory. Thus 
old Comcomly recognised the mate of the Al- 



262 feanchere's voyage. 

batross as having visited the country sixteen 
years before, and recalled to the latter the name 
of the captain under whom he had sailed at that 
period. 

The Chinook language is spoken by all the 
nations from the mouth of the Columbia to the 
falls. It is hard and difficult to pronounce, for 
strangers; beingfuU.of gutturals, like the Gaelic. 
The combinations till, or tl, and It, are a^ frequent 
in the Chinook as in the Mexican.* 

* There can not be a doubt that the existing- tribes on the N. 
W. coast, have reached that country from the South, and not from 
the North. They are the debris of the civilization of Central 
America, expelled by a defecating process that is going on in all 
human societies, and so have sunk into barbarism. — Ed. 



OUR SETTING OUT. 263 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Departure from Astoria or Fort George. — Accident. — Passage 
of the Dalles or Narrows. — Great Columbian Desert. — Aspect 
of the Countiy. — Wallawalla and Shaptin Rivers. — Rattle- 
snakes. — Some Details regarding the Natives of the Upper 
Columbia. 

We quitted Fort George (or Astoria, if you 
please) on Monday morning, the 4th of April, 
1814, in ten caiioes, five of which were of bark 
and five of cedar wood, carrying each seven men 
as crew, and two passengers, in all ninety persons, 
and all well armed. Messrs. J. G. M'Tavish, 
D. Stuart, J. Clarke, B. Pillct, W. Wallace, D. 
M'Gillis, D. M'Kenzie, &c., were of the party. 
Nothing remarkable occurred to us as far as the 
first falls, which we reached on the 10th. The 
portage was effected immediately, and we en- 
camped on an island for the night. Our num- 



264 franchere's voyage. 

bers had caused the greater part of the natives 
to take to flight, and those who remained in the 
vilhxges showed the most pacific dispositions. 
They sold us four horses and thirty dogs, which 
were immediately slaughtered for food. 

We resumed our route on the 11th, at an early 
hour. The wind was favoraljlc, but blew with 
violence. Toward evening, the canoe in which 
Mr. M'Tavish was, in doubling a point of rock, 
was run under by its press of sail, and sunk. 
Happily the river was not deep at this place ; no 
one was drowned ; and we succeeded in sa^dng 
all the goods. This accident compelled us to 
camp at an early hour. 

On the 12th, we arrived at a rapid called the 
Dalles : this is a channel cut by nature through 
the rocks, which are here almost perpendicular : 
the channel is from 150 to 300 feet wide, and 
about two miles long. The whole body of the 
river rushes through it, with great violence, and 
renders navigation impracticable. The portage 
occupied us till dusk. Although we had not seen 
a single Indian in the course of the day, we kept 



PLAINS OF THE COLUMBIA. 265 

sentinels on duty all night : for it was here that 
Messrs. StuaTt and Reed were attacked by the 
natives. 

On the 13th, we made two more portages, and 
met Indians, of whom we purchased horses and 
wood. We camped early on a sandy plain, where 
we passed a bad night ; the wind, which blew 
violently, raised clouds of sand, which incom- 
moded us greatly, and spoiled every mouthful of 
food we took. 

On the 14th and 15th, we passed what are 

called the Great Plains of the Columltia. From 

the top of the first rapid to this point, the aspect 

of the country becomes more and more triste and 

disagreeable ; one meets at first nothing but bare 

hills, which scarcely offer a few isolated pines, at 

a great distance from each other ; after that, the 

earth, stripped of verdure, does not afford you 

the sight of a single shrub ; the little grass which 

grows in that arid soil, appears burnt by the 

rigor of the climate. The natives who frequent the 

banks of the river, for the salmon fishery, have 

no other wood but that which they take floating 
12 



266 franchere's voyage. 

down. We passed several rapids, and a small 
stream called TJtalah, whicli flows from the south- 
east. 

On the 16th, we found the river narrowed ; the 
banks rose on either side in elevations, without, 
however, offering a single tree. We reached the 
river Wallatvalla, which empties into the Colum- 
bia on the southeast. It is narrow at its conflu- 
ence, and is not navigable for any great distance. 
A range of mountains was visible to the S. E., 
about fifty or sixty miles oflf.~^ Behind these moim- 
tains the country becomes again flat and sandy, 
and is inhabited by a tribe called the Snakes, 
We found on the left bank of the Wallawalla, an 
encampment of Indians, consisting of about twen- 
ty lodges. They sold us six dogs and eight 
horses, the greater part extremely lean. We 
killed two of the horses immediately : I mounted 
one of the six that remained ; Mr. Ross took 
another ; and we drove the other four before us. 
Toward the decline of day we passed the river 
Leivis, called, in the language of the country, the 
Shchap-tin. It comes from the S. E., and is the 



PRAIRIE DOGS. 267 

same that Lewis and Clarke descended in 1805. 
The Ska-ap-tm appeared to me to have little 
depth, and to be about 300 yards wide, at its 
confluence. 

The country through which we were now pas- 
sing, was a mingling of hills, steep rocks, and 
valleys covered with wormwood ; the stems of 
which shrub are nearly six inches thick, and 
might serve for fuel. We killed six rattlesnakes 
on the loth, and on the 16th saw a great many 
more among the rocks. These dangerous rep- 
tiles appeared to be very numerous in this part 
of the country. The plains are also inhabited by 
a little quadruped, only about eight or nine inch- 
es in length, and approaching the dog in form. 
These animals have the hair, or poil, of a reddish 
brown, and strong fore-paws, armed with long 
claws which serve them to dig out their holes 
under the earth. They have a great deal of 
curiosity : as soon as they hear a noise they come 
out of their holes and bark. They are not vicious, 
but, though easily tamed, can not be domesti- 
cated. 



268 franchere's yoyage. 

The natives of the upper Columbia, beginning 
at the falls, clifier essentially in language, man- 
ners, and habits, from those of whom I have 
spoken in the preceding chapters. They do not 
dwell in villages, like the latter, but are nomads, 
like the Tartars and the Arabs of the desert: 
their women are more industrious, and the young 
girls more reserved and chaste than those of the 
populations lower down. They do not go naked, 
but both sexes wear habits made of dressed deer- 
skin, which they take care to rub with chalk, to 
keep them clean and wliite. They are almost 
always seen on liorseljack, and are in general 
good riders ; they pursue the deer and penetrate 
even to Missouri, to kill buffalo, the flesh of which 
they dry, and bring it back on their horses, to 
make their principal- food during the winter. 
These expeditions arc not free from danger ; for 
they have a great deal to apprehend from the 
Black-feet, who are their enemies. As this last 
tribe is powerful and ferocious, the Snakes, the 
Pierced-noses or Sha-ap-tins, the Flatheads, &c., 
make common cause against them, when the for- 



THE UPPER COLUMBIA. 269 

mer go to hunt east of tlie mountains. They set 
out with their families, and the cavalcade often 
numbers two thousand horses. When they have 
the good fortune not to encounter the enemy, they 
return with the spoils of an abundant chase ; they 
load a part of their horses with the hides and 
beef, and return home to pass the winter in peace. 
Sometimes, on the contrary, they are so harassed 
by the Blackfeet, who surprise them in the night 
and carry off their horses, that they are forced 
to return light-handed, and then they have noth- 
ing to eat but roots, all the winter. 

These Indians are passionately fond of horse- 
races : by the bets they make on these occasions 
they sometimes lose all tliat they possess. The 
women ride, as well as the men. For a bridle 
they use a cord of horse-hair, which they attach 
round the animal's mouth ; with that he is easily 
checked, and by laying the hand on his neck, is 
made to wheel to this side or that. The saddle 
is a cushion of stuffed deer-skin, very suitable for 
the purpose to which it is destined, rarely hurting 
the horse, and not fatiguing the rider so much 



270 . franchere's voyage. 

as our European saddles. The stirrups are 
pieces of hard wood, ingeniously wrought, and of 
the same shape as those which are used in ci'sdli- 
2ed countries. They are covered with a piece 
of deer-skin, which is sewed on wet, and in dry- 
ing stiffens and becomes hard and firm. The 
saddles for women diifer in form, being furnished 
with the antlers of a deer, so as to resemble the 
high pommelled saddle of the Mexican ladies. 

They procure their horses from the herds of 
these animals which are found in a wild state in 
the country extending between the northern lat- 
itudes and the gulf of Mexico, and which some- 
times count a thousand or fifteen hundred in a 
troop. These horses come from New Mexico, 
and are of Spanish race. We even saw some 
which had been marked with a hot iron by Span- 
iards. Some of our men, who had been at the 
south, told me that they had seen among the In- 
dians, bridles, the bits of which were of silver. 
The form of the saddles used by the females, 
proves that they have taken tlieir pattern from 
the Spanish ones destined for the same use. One 



TAKING WILD HORSES. 271 

of the partners of the N. W. Company (Mr. 
M'Tavish) assured us that he had seen among 
the Spokans, an old woman who told him that 
she had seen men ploughing the earth ; she told 
him that she had also seen churches, which she 
made him understand by imitating the sound of a 
bell and the action of pulling a bell-rope ; and 
further to confirm her account, made the sign of ' 
the cross. That gentleman concluded that she 
had been made prisoner and sold to the Spaniards 
on the Del Norte ; but I think it more probable 
it was nearer, in North California, at the mission 
of San Carlos or San Francisco. 

As the manner of taking wild horses should 
not be generally known to my readers, I wall re- 
late it here in few words. The Indian who wish- 
es to capture some horses, mounts one of his 
fleetest coursers, being armed with a long cord 
of horsehair, one end of which is attached to his 
saddle, and the other is a running noose. Ar- 
rived at the herd, he dashes into the midst of it, 
and flinging his cord, or lasso, passes it dexter- 
ously over the head of the animal he selects ; 



272 franchere's voyage. 

then wheeling his courser, draws the cord after 
hira ; tlie wild horse, finding itself strangling, 
makes little resistance ; the Indian then approach- 
es, ties his fore and hind legs together, and 
leaves him till he has taken in this manner as 
many as he can. He then drives them home 
before him, and breaks them in at leisure. 



RENCONTRE. 273 



CHAPTEE XXII. 

Meeting with the Widow of a Hunter. — Her Nan-ativc. — Reflec- 
tions of the Author. — Priest's Rapid. — River Okenakan. — Kettle 
Falls. — Pine Moss. — Scarcity of Food. — Rivers, Lakes, &c. — 
Accident. — A Rencontre. — First View of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

On the 17th, the fatigue I had experienced the 
day before, on horseback, obliged me to re-em- 
bark in my canoe. About eight o'clock, we 
passed a little river flowing from the N. W. We 
perceived, soon after, three canoes, the persons 
in which were struggling with their paddles 
to overtake us. As we were still pursuing our 
way, we heard a child's voice cry out in French 
— " arretez done, arretez donc^^ — (stop ! stop !). 
"We put ashore, and the canoes having joined us, 
we perceived in one of them the wife and children 
of a man named Pierre Dorion, a hmiter, who 

had been sent on with a party of eight, mider 
12* 



274 franchere's voyage. 

the command of Mr. J, Reed, among the Snakes^ 
to join there the hmiters left by Messrs. Hunt 
and Crooks, near Fort Henry, and to secure 
horses and pro"\asions for our journey. This 
■woman informed us, to our no small dismay, of 
the tragical fate of all those who composed that 
party. She told us that in the month of January, 
the hunters being dispersed here and there, 
setting their traps for the beaver, Jacob Regner, 
Gilles Leclerc, and Pierre Dorion, her husband, 
had been attacked by the natives. Leclerc, hav- 
ing Jbeen mortally wounded, reached her tent or 
hut, where he expired in a few minutes, after 
having announced to her that her husband had 
been killed. She immediately took two horses 
that were near the lodge, mounted her two boys 
upon them, and fled in all haste to the wintering 
house of Mr. Reed, which was about iive days' 
march from the spot where her husband fell. Her 
horror and disappointment were extreme, when 
she found the house — a log cabin — deserted, 
and on drawing nearer, was soon convinced, by 
the traces of blood, that Mr. Reed also had been 



woman's story. 276 

murdered. No time was to be lost in lamenta- 
tions, and she had immediately fled toward the 
momitains south of the Wallaivalla, where, being 
impeded by the depth of the snow, she was forced 
to winter, having killed both the horses to sub- 
sist herself and her children. But at last, find- 
ing herself out of provisions, and the snow be- 
ginning to melt, she had crossed the mountains 
with her boys, hoping to find some more humane 
Indians, who would let her live among them till 
the boats from the fort below should be ascend- 
ing the river in the spring, and so reached the 
banks of the Columbia, by the Wallawalla. 
Here, indeed, the natives had received her with 
much hospitality, and it was the Indians of Wal- 
lawalla w^ho brought her to us. We made them 
some presents to repay their care and pains, and 
they returned well satisfied. 

The persons who lost their lives in this mifor- 

• tunate wintering party, were Mr. John Reed, 

(clerk), Jacob Regner, John Hubbough, Pierre 

Dorion (hunters) , Gilles Leclerc, Francois Landry, 

J. B. Turcotte, Andre la Chapelle and Pierre 



276 feanchere's voyage. 

De Lauuay, (yoyageurs).* We had no doubt 
that this massacre was an act of vengeance, on 
the part of the natives, in retaliation for the death 
of one of their people, whom Mr. John Clark 
had hanged for theft the spring before. This 
fact, the massacre on tlie Tonqnin, the unhappy 
end of Captam Cook, and many other similar 
examples, prove how carefully the Europeans, 
who have relations with a barbarous people, 
should abstain from acting in regard to them on 
the footing of too marked an inequality, and 
especially from pvmishing their offences according 
to usages and codes, in which there is too often 
an enormous disproportion l)etween the crime 
and the punishment. If these pretended exem- 
plary punishments seem to have a good effect at 
first sight, they almost always produce terrible 
consequences in the sequel. 

On the 18th, wo passed Priest's Rapid, so 
named by Mr. Stuart and his people, wlio saw at 

* Tiircotte died of King's Evil. Do Launny was a lialf-hreed, 
of violent temper, who had taken an Indian woman to live with 
him ; he left Mr. Reed in the autumn, and was never heard of 
again. 



SXOWY SUMMITS. 277 

this spot, in 1811, as they were ascending the 
river, a number of savages, one of whom *was 
performing on the rest certain aspersions and 
other ceremonies, which had the air of being 
coarse imitations of the Catholic worship. For 
our part, we met here some Indians of whom we 
bought two hoi:ses. The banks of the river at 
this place are tolerably high, but the country 
back of them is flat and uninteresting. 

On the 20th, we arrived at a place where the 
bed of the river is extremely contracted, and 
where we were obliged to make a portage. 
Messrs. J. Stuart and Clarke left us here, to 
proceed on horseback to the Spokan trading 
house, to procure there the provisions which 
would be necessary for us, in order to push on to 
the mountains. 

On the 21st, we lightened of their cargoes, 
three canoes, in which those who were to cross 
the continent embarked, to get on with greater 
speed. "We passed several rapids, and began to 
see mountains covered with snow. 

On the 22d, we began to see some pines on 



278 franchere's voyage. 

the ridge of tlie neighboring hills ; and at evening 
we Encamped under trees , a thing which had not 
hajjpened to us since the 12th, 

On the 23d, toward 9, A. M., we reached the 
trading post established by D. Stuart, at the 
mouth of the river Okenakan. The spot ap- 
peared to us charming, in comparison with the 
country through which we had journeyed for 
twelve days past: the two rivers here meeting, 
and the immense prairies covered with a fine 
verdure, strike agreeably the eye of the observer; 
but there is not a tree or a shrub to diversify the 
scene, and render it a little less naked and less 
monotonous. We found here Messrs. J. M'Gilli- 
vray and Ross, and Mr. 0. de Montigny, who had 
taken service with the N. "W. Company, and who 
charged me with a letter for his brother. 

Toward midday we re-embarked, to continue 
our journey. After having passed several dan- 
gerous rapids without accident, always through 
a country broken by shelving rocks, diversified 
with hills and verdant prairies, we arrived, on 
the 29th, at the portage of the Chaudieres or 



KETTLE FALLS. 279 

Kettle falls. This is a fall where the water 
precipitates itself over an immense rock of wMte 
marble, veined with red and green, that traverses 
the bed of the river from N. W. to S. E. We 
effected the portage immediately, and encamped 
on the edge of a charming prairie. 

We found at 4iis place some Indians who had 
been fasting, they assured us, for several days. 
They appeared, in fact, reduced to the most piti- 
able state, having nothing left but skin and bones, 
and scarcely able to drag themselves along, so 
that not without difficulty could they even reach 
the margin of the river, to get a little water to 
wet their parched lips. It is a thing that often 
happens to these poor people, when their chase 
has not been productive ; their principal nourish- 
ment consisting, in that case, of the pine moss, 
which they boil till it is reduced to a sort of glue 
or black paste, of a sufficient consistence to take 
the form of biscuit. I had the curiosity to taste 
this bread, and I thought I had got in my mouth 
a bit of soap. Yet some of our people, who had 
been reduced to eat this glue, assured me that 



280 franchere's voyage. 

when fresh made it had a very good taste, sea- 
soned with meat.* We partly relieved these 
wretched natives from our scanty store. 

On the 30th, while we were yet encamped at 
Kettle falls, Messrs. J. Stuart and Clarke arrived 
from the post at Spokan. The last was mounted 
on the finest-proj)ortioned gray ciiarger, full seven- 
teen hands high, that I had seen in these parts : Mr. 
Stuart had got a fall from his, in trying to urge 
him, and had hurt himself severely. These gen- 
tlemen not having brought us the provisions we 
expected, because the hunters who had been sent 
for that purpose among the Flatheads, had not 
been able to procure any, it was resolved to di- 
vide our party, and that Messrs. M'Donald, J. 
Stuart, and M'Kenzie should go forward to the 
post situated east of the mountains, in order to 
send us thence horses and supplies. These gen- 
tlemen quitted us on the 1st of May. After their 

* The process of boiling employed by the Indians in this case, 
extracts from the moss its gelatine, which serves to supply the 
waste of those tissues into which that principle enters ; but as the 
moss contains little or nor(e of the proximates which constitute 
the bulk of the living solids and fluids, it will not, of course, by 
itself, support life or strength. — Ed, 



FORESTS APPEAR. 281 

departure we killed two liorses and dried the 
meat ; wliich occupied us the rest of that day and 
all the next. In the evening of the 2d, Mr. A. 
Stuart arrived at our camp. He had recovered 
from his wounds (received in the conflict with 
the natives, before related), and was on his way 
to his old wintering place on Slave lake, to fetch 
his family to the Columbia. 

We resumed our route on the morning of the 
3d of May, and went to encamp that evening at 
the upper-end of a rapid, where we began to 
descry mountains covered with forests, and where 
the banks of the river themselves were low and 
thinly timbered. 

On the 4th, after having passed several consid- 
erable rapids, we reached the confluence of Flat- 
head river. This stream comes from the S. E., 
and falls into the Columbia in the form of a cas- 
cade: it may be one hundred and fifty yards 
wide at its junction. 

On the morning of the 5th, we arrived at the 
confluence of the Coutonais river. This stream 
also flows from the south, and has nearly the same 



282 franchere's voyage. 

width as the Flathead. Shortly after passing 
it, we entered a lake or enlargement of the river, 
which we crossed to encamp at its upper extrem- 
ity. This lake may be thirty or forty miles, and 
about four wide at its broadest part : it is sur- 
romided by lofty hills, which for the most part 
have their base at the water's edge, and rise by 
gradual and finely-wooded terraces, offering a^ 
sufficiently pretty view. 

On the 6th, after we had run through a nar- 
row strait or channel some fifteen miles long, we 
entered another lake, of less extent than the for- 
mer but equally picturesque. When we were 
nearly in the middle of it, an accident occurred 
which, if not very disastrous, was sufficiently 
singular. One of the men, who had been on the 
sick-list for several days, requested to be landed 
for an instant. Not being more than a mile 
from the shore, we acceded to his request, and 
made accordingly for a projecting head-land ; 
but when we were about three hundred or four 
hundred yards from the point, the canoe struck 
with force against the trunk of a tree which was 



AN ACCIDENT. 283 

planted in the bottom of the lake, and the ex- 
tremity of which barely reached the surface of 
the water.* It needed no more to break a hole 
in so frail a vessel ; the canoe was pierced 
through the bottom and filled in a trice ; and • 
despite all our efforts we could not get off the 
tree, which had penetrated two or three feet 
within her ; perhaps that was our good fortune, 
for the opening was at least a yard long. One 
of the men, who was an expert swimmer, stripped, 
and was about to go ashore with an axe lashed 
to his back, to make a raft for us, when the oth- 
er canoe, which had been proceeding up the lake, 
and was a mile ahead, perceived our signals of 
distress, and came to our succor. They carried 
us to land, where it was necessary to encamp 
forthwith, as well to dry ourselves as to mend 
the canoe. 

On the 7th, Mr. A. Stuart, whom we had left 
behind at Kettle falls, came up with us, and we 
pursued our route in company. Toward evening 

* A snag of course, of the nature of which the young Canadian 
Eeems to have been ignorant. 



284 franchere's voyage. 

we met natives, camped on the bank of the river : 
they gave us a letter from which we learned that 
Mr. M'Donald and his party had passed there on 
the 4th. The women at this camp were busy 
spinning the coarse wool of the mountain sheep : 
they had blankets or mantles, woven or platted of 
the same material, with a heavy fringe all round : 
I would gladly have purchased one of these, but 
as we were to carry all our baggage on our backs 
across the mountains, was forced to relinquish 
the idea. Having bought of these savages some 
pieces of dried venison, we pursued our journey. 
The country began to be ascending ; the stream 
was very rapid; and we made that day little 
progress. 

On the 8th we began to see snow on the shoals 
or sand-banks of the river : the atmosphere grew 
very cold. The banks on either side presented 
only high hills covered to the top with impenetra- 
ble forests. While the canoes were working up 
a considerable rapid, I climbed the hills with Mr. 
M'Gillis, and we walked on, following the coiu^se 
of the river, some five or six miles. The snow 



THE MOUNTAINS IN SIGHT. 285 

was very deep in the ravines or narrow gorges 
which are found between the bases of the hills. 
The most common trees are the Norway pine and 
the cedar : the last is here, as on the borders of 
the sea, of a prodigious size. 

On the 9th and 10th, as we advanced but slow- 
ly, the coimtry presented the same aspect as on 
the 8th. Toward evening of the 10th, we per- 
ceived a-head of us a chain of high mountains 
entirely covered with snow. The bed of the riv- 
er was hardly more than sixty yards wide, and 
was filled with dry banks composed of coarse 
gravel and small pebble. 



286 franchere's voyage. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Course of the Columbia River. — Canoe River. — Foot-march to- 
ward the Rocky Mountains. — Passage of the Alountains. 

On the llth, that is to say, one month, day 
for day, after our departure from the falls, we 
quitted the Columbia, to enter a little stream to 
which Mr. Thompson had given, in 1811, the 
name of Canoe river, from the fact that it was 
on this fork that he constructed the canoes which 
carried him to the Pacific. 

The Columbia, which in the portion above the 
falls (not taking into consideration some local 
sinuosities) comes from the N. N. E., takes a 
bend here so that the stream appears to flow from 
the S. E.* Some boatmen, and particularly Mr. 

* Mr. Franchere uniformly mentions the direction from which 
a stream ajjpears to flow, not that toward which it runs ; a natur- 
al method on the part of one who was ascending the current. 



COURSE OF THE COLUMBIA. 287 

Regis Bruguier, who had ascended that river to 
its source, informed me that it came out of two 
small lakes, not far from the chain of the Rocky 
Mountains, which, at that i^lace, diverges consid- 
erably to the east. According to Arrowsmith's 
map, the course of the Tacontche Tesse, from its 
mouth in the Pacific Ocean, to its source in the 
Rocky mountains, is about twelve hundred En- 
glish miles, or four hundred French leagues of 
twenty-five to a degree ; that is to say, from two 
hundred and forty to two hundred and eighty 
miles from west to east, from its mouth to the 
first falls : seven hundred and fifty miles nearly 
from S. S. W. to N. N. E., from the first rapids 
to the bend at the confluence of Canoe river ; and 
one hundred and fifty or one hundred and eighty 
miles from that confluence to its source. We 
were not provided with the necessary instruments 
to determine the latitude, and still less the lon- 
gitude, of our different stations ; but it took us 
four or five days to go up from the factory at As- 
toria to the falls, and we could not have made 
less than sixty miles a day : and, as I have just 



288 fkanchere's voyage. 

remarked, we occupied an entire month in getting 
from the falls to Canoe river : deducting four 
or j&ve days, on which we did not travel, there 
remain twenty-five days march; and it is not 
possible that we made less than thirty miles a 
day, one day with another. 

We ascended Canoe river to the point where 
it ceases to be navigable, and encamped in the 
same place where Mr. Thompson wintered in 
1810-'ll. We proceeded immediately to secure 
our canoes, and to divide the baggage among the 
men, giving each fifty pounds to carry, including 
his provisions. A sack of pemican, or pounded 
meat, which we found in a cache, where it had 
been left for us, was a great acquisition, as our 
supplies were nearly exhausted. 

On the 12th we began our foot march to the 
mountains, being twenty-four in number, rank 
and file. Mr. A. Stuart remained at the portage 
to bestow in a place of safety the effects which 
we could not carry, such as boxes, kegs, camp- 
kettles, <S:c. We traversed first some swamps, 
next a dense bit of forest, and then we found 



A SEVERE LOSS. 289 

ourselves inarching up the gravelly banks of tlie 
little Canoe river. Fatigue obliged us to camp 
early. 

On the IStli we pursued our journey, and en- 
tered into the valleys between the mountains, 
where there lay not less than four or five feet of 
snow. We were obliged to ford the river ten or 
a dozen times in the course of the day, sometimes 
with the water up to our necks. These frequent 
fordings were rendered necessary by abrupt and 
steep rocks or blufl's, which it was impossible to 
get over without plunging into the wood for a 
great distance. The stream being very swift, 
and rushing over a bed of stones, one of the men 
fell and lost a sack containing our last piece of 
salt pork, which we were preserving as a most 
precious treasure. The circumstances in which 
we found ourselves made us regard this as a most 
unfortunate accident. We encamped that night 
at the foot of a steep mountain, and sent on Mr. 
Pillet and the guide, M'Kay, to hasten a supply 
of provisions to meet us. 

On the morning of the 14th we began to climb 
13 



290 franchere's voyage. 

the mountain which we had before us. We were 
obliged to stop every moment, to take breath, so 
stijff was the ascent. Happily it had frozen hard 
the night before, and the crust of the snow was 
sufficient to bear us. After two or three hours 
of incredible exertions and fatigues, we arrived 
at the plateau or summit, and followed the foot- 
prints of those who had preceded us. This 
mountain is placed between two others a great 
deal more elevated, compared with which it is 
but a hill, and of which, indeed, it is only, as it 
were, the valley. Our march soon became fa- 
tiguing, on account of the depth of the snow, 
which, softened by the rays of the sun, could no 
longer bear us as in the morning. We were 
obliged to follow exactly the traces of those who 
had preceded us, and to plunge our legs up to the 
knees in the holes they had made, so that it was 
as if we had put on and taken off, at every step, 
a very large pair of boots. At last we arrived 
at a good hard bottom, and a clear space, which 
our guide said was a little lake frozen over, and 
here we stopped for the night. This lake, or 



SCENERY. 291 

rather these lakes (for there are two) are situated 
in the midst of the valley or cup of the mountains. 
On either side "were immense glaciers, or ice-bound 
rocks, on which the rays of the setting sun re- 
flected the most beautiful prismatic colors. One 
of these icy peaks was like a fortress of rock ; it 
rose perpendicularly some fifteen or eighteen 
hundred feet above the level of the lakes, and 
had the summit covered with ice. Mr. J, Henry, 
who first discovered the pass, gave this extraor- 
dinary rock the name of M- Gillivray^s Rock, in 
honor of one of the partners of the N. W, Com- 
pany. The lakes themselves are not much over 
three or four hundred yards in circuit, and not 
over two hundred yards apart. Canoe river, 
which, as we have already seen, flows to the west, 
and falls into the Columbia, takes its rise in one 
of them ; while the other gives birth to one of the 
branches of the Athabasca, which runs first east- 
ward, then northward, and which, after its junc- 
tion with the U)ijighah, north of the Lake of the 
Mountains, takes the name of Slave river, as far 
the lake of that name, and afterward that of 



292 feancheee's voyage. 

M^J^nzie river, till it empties into, or is lost in, 
the Frozen ocean. Having cut a large pile of 
'wood, and having, by tedious labor for nearly an 
hour, got through the ice to the clear water of 
the lake on which we were encamped, we supped 
frugally on pounded maize, arranged our bivouac, 
and passed a pretty good night, though it was 
bitterly cold. The most common wood of the 
locality was cedar and stunted pine. The heat 
of our fire made the snow melt, and by morning 
the embers had reached the solid ice : the depth 
from the snow surface was about five feet. 

On the loth, we continued our route, and soon 
began to descend the mountain. At the end of 
three hours, we reached the banks of a stream — 
the outlet of the second lake above mentioned — 
here and there frozen over, and then again tum- 
bling down over rock and pebbly bottom in a 
thousand fantastic gambols ; and very soon we 
had to ford it. After a tiresome march, by an 
extremely difficult path in the midst of woods, 
we encamped in the evening under some cypres- 
ses. I had hit my right knee against the branch 



BUFFALO TRACKS. 293 

of a fallen tree on the first day of our march, and 
now began to suffer acutely with it. It was im- 
possible, however, to flinch, as I must keep up 
with the party or be left to perish. 

On the 16th, our path lay through thick 
swamps and forest ; we recrossed the small stream 
we had forded the day before, and our guide con- 
ducted us to the banks of the Athabasca^ which 
we also forded. As this passage was the last to 
be made, we dried our clothes, and pursued our 
journey through a more agreeable country than on 
the preceding days. In the evening we camped on 
the margin of a verdant plain, which, the guide 
informed us, was called Coro prairie. We had 
met in the course of the day several buffalo 
tracks, and a number of the bones of that quad- 
ruped bleached by time. Our flesh-meat having 
given out entirely, our supper consisted in some 
handfuls of com, which we parched in a pan. 

We resumed our route very early on the 17th, 
and after passing a forest of trembling poplar or 
aspen, we again came in sight of the river which 
we had left the day before. Arriving then at an 



294 franchere's voyage. 

elevated promontory or cape, our guide made us 
turn back in order to pass it at its most accessi- 
ble point. After crossing it, not without difficul- 
ty, we soon came upon fresh horse-prints, a sure 
indication that there were some of those animals 
in our neighborhood. Emerging from the forest, 
each took the direction which he thought would 
lead soonest to an encampment. "We all pres- 
ently arrived at an old house wliich the traders 
of the N. W. Company had once constructed, but 
which had been abandoned for some four or five 
years. The site of this trading post is the most 
charming that can be imagined : suffice to say 
that it is built on the bank of the beautiful river 
Athabasca, and is surrounded by green and 
smiling prairies and superb woodlands. Pity 
there is nobody there to enjoy these rural beau- 
ties and to praise, wliile admiring them, the Au- 
thor of Nature. We found there Mr. Fillet, and 
one of Mr. J. M'Donald's party, who had his leg 
broken by the kick of a horse. After regaling 
ourselves with pemican and some frcsli venison, 
we set out again, lea\ang two of the party to 



A MEETING. 295 

t^ke care of the lame man, and went on about 
eight or nine miles farther to encamp. 

On the 18th, we had rain. I took the lead, 
and after having walked about ten or twelve 
miles, on the slope of a mountain denuded of 
trees, I perceived some smoke issuing from a tuft 
of trees in the bottom of a valley, and near the 
river. I descended immediately, and reached a 
small camp, where I found two men who were 
coming to meet us with four horses. I made 
them fire ofi" two guns as a signal to the rest of 
our people who were coming up in the rear, and 
presently we heard it repeated on the river, from 
which we were not far distant. "We repaired 
thither, and found two of the men, who had been 
left at the last ford, and who, having constructed 
a bark canoe, were descending the river. I made 
one of them disembark, and took his place, my 
knee being so painful that I could walk no fur- 
ther. Meanwhile the whole party came up ; they 
loaded the horses, and pursued their route. In 
the course of the day my companion (an Iro- 
quois) and I, shot seven ducks. Coming, at last, 



296 franchere's voyage. 

to a high promontory called Millefs rock^ ^ 
found some of our foot-travellers with Messrs. 
Stewart and Clarke, who were on horseback, all 
at a stand, doubting whether it would answer to 
wade round the base of the rock, which dipped 
in the water. TVe sounded the stream for them, 
and found it fordable. So they dll passed round, 
thereby avoiding the inland path, which is ex- 
cessively fatiguing by reason of the hills, which 
it is necessary perpetually to mount and descend. 
"We encamped, to the number of seven, at the 
entrance of what at high water might be a lake, 
but was then but a flat of blackish sand, with a 
narrow channel in the centre. Here we made 
an excellent supper on the wild ducks, while 
those who were behind had nothing to eat. 



EOCKY MOUNTAINS HOUSE. 297 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Arrival at the Fort of the Mountains. — Descrijition of this Post. 

— Some Details in Regard to the Rocky Mountains. — Mountain 
Sheep, &c. — Continuation of the Journey. — Unhappy Accident. 

— Reflections. — News from Canada. — Hunter's Lodge. — Pim- 
bina and Red Deer Rivers. 

On the 19tli we raised our camp and followed 
the shore of the little dry lake, along a smooth 
sandy beach, having abandoned our little bark 
canoe, both because it had become nearly unser- 
viceable, and because we knew ourselves to be 
very near the Rocky Mountains House. In fact, 
we had not gone above five or six miles when 
we discerned a column of smoke on the opposite 
side of the stream. "We immediately forded 
across, and arrived at the post, where we found 
Messrs. M'Donald, Stuart, and M'Kenzie, who 
had preceded us only two days. 



298 ^ franchere's voyage. 

The post of the Rocky Mountains, in English, 
Rocky Mountains House., is situated on the 
shore of the little lake I have mentioned, in the 
midst of a wood, and is surrounded, except on 
the water side, by steep rocks, inhabited only by 
the mountain sheep and goat. Here is seen in 
the west the chain of the Rocky Mountains, 
whose summits are covered with perpetual snow. 
On the lake side, Millet'' s Rock, of which I have 
spoken above, is in full view, of an immense 
height, and resembles the front of a huge church 
seen in perspective. The post was under the 
charge of a Mr. Decoigne. He does not pro- 
cure many furs for the company, which has only 
established the house as a provision depot, with 
the view of facilitating the passage of the moun- 
tains to those of its employes who are repairing 
to, or returning from, the Columbia. 

People speak so often of the Rocky Mountains, 
and appear to know so little about them, that the 
reader will naturally desire me to say here a 
word on that subject. If we are to credit trav- 
ellers, and the most recent maps, these mountains 



EXTENT OF THE CHAIN. 299 

extend nearly in a straight line, from the 35th 
or 36th degree of north latitude, to the mouth of 
the Unjig'hah,ov M'-Kenzie's riverain the Arctic 
ocean, in latitude 65^^ or QQ° N. This distance 
of thirty degrees of latitude, or seven hundred 
and fifty leagues, equivalent to two thousand 
two hundred and fifty English miles or therea- 
bouts, is, however, only the mean side of a right- 
angled triangle, the base of Avhich occupies twen- 
ty-six degrees of longitude, in latitude 35° or 
36°, that is to say, is about sixteen hundred 
miles long, while the chain of mountains forms 
the hypotenuse ; so that the real, and as it were 
diagonal, length of the chain, across the conti- 
nent, must be very near three thousand miles 
from S. E. to N. W. In such a vast extent of 
mountains, the perpendicular height and width 
of base must necessarily be very unequal. We 
were about eight days in crossing them ; whence 
I conclude, from our daily rate of travel, that 
they may have, at this point, i. e., about latitude 
54°, a base of two hundred miles. 

The geographer Pinkerton is assuredly mis- 



300 franchere's voyage. 

taken, wlien he gives these mountains an eleva- 
tion of but three thousand feet above the level 
of the sea ; from my own observations I would 
not hesitate to give them six thousand ; we at- 
tained, in crossing them, an elevation probably of 
fifteen hundred feet above the valleys, and were 
not, perhaps, nearer than half way of their total 
height, while the valleys themselves must be con- 
siderably elevated above the level of the Pacific, 
considering the prodigious number of rapids and 
falls which are met in the Columbia, from the 
first falls to Canoe river. Be that as it may, if 
these mountains yield to the Andes in elevation 
and extent, they very much surpass in both re- 
spects the Apalachian chain, regarded until re- 
cently as the principal mountains of North Amer- 
ica : they give rise, accordingly, to an infinity of 
streams, and to the greatest rivers of the conti- 
nent.* 

* This is interesting, as the rough calculation of an vniscientific 
traveller, unprovided with instruments, and at that date. The 
real height of the Rocky Mountains, as novj^ ascertained, averages 
twelve thousand feet; the highest known peak is about sixteen 
thousand. — Ed. 



ANIMALS. 301 

They offer a vast and unexplored field to nat- 
ural history : no botanist, no mineralogist, has 
yet examined them. The first travellers called 
them the Glittering mountains, on account of the 
infinite number, of immense rock crystals, which, 
they say, cover their surface, and which, when 
they are not covered with snow, or in the bare 
places, reflect to an immense distance the rays 
of the sun. The name of Rocky mountains was 
given them, probably, by later travellers, in con- 
sequence of the enormous isolated rocks which 
they offer here and there to the view. In fact. 
Millet's rock, and M- Gillivray^s above all, ap- 
peared to me wonders of nature. Some think 
that they contain metals, and precious stones. 

With the exception of the mountain sheep and 
goat, -the animals of the Rocky mountains, if 
these rocky passes support any, are not better 
known than their vegetable and mineral produc- 
tions. The mountain sheep resorts generally to 
steep rocks, where it is impossible for men or 
even for wolves to reach them : we saw several 
on the rocks which surround the Mountain House. 



302 peanchere's voyage. 

This animal lias great curved horns, like those 
of the domestic ram : its wool is long, but 
coarse ; that on the belly is the finest and whitest. 
The Indians who dwell near the mountains, make 
blankets of it, similar to ours, which they ex- 
change with the Indians of the Columbia for fish, 
and other commodities. The ibex, or mountain 
goat, frequents, like the sheep, the top and the 
declivities of the rocks : it differs from the sheep 
in having hair instead of wool, and straight horns 
projecting backward, instead of curved ones. 
The color is also different. The natives soften 
the horns of these animals by boiling, and make 
platters, spoons, <fec., of them, in a very artistic 
manner. 

Mr. Decoigne had not sufficient food for us, 
not having expected so many people to arrive at 
once. His hunters were then absent on Smoke 
river (so called by some travellers who saw in 
the neighborhood a volcanic mountain belching 
smoke), in quest of game. We were therefore 
compelled to kill one of the horses for food. "We 
found no birch bark either to make canoes, and 



WE EMBARK. o03 

set the men to work in constructing some of 
wood. For want of better materials, we were 
obliged to use poplar. On the 22d5 the three 
men whom we had left at the old-house, arrived 
in a little canoe made of two elk-skins sewed to- 
gether, and stretched like a drum, on a frame of 
poles. ^'■ 

On the 24th, four canoes being ready, we fas- 
tened them together two and two, and embarked, 
to descend the river to an old post called Hun- 
ter''s Lodge, where Mr. Decoigne, who was to 
return with us to Canada, informed us that we 
should find some bark canoes en cache, placed 
there for the use of the persons who descend the 
river. The water was not deep, and the stream 
was rapid; we glided along, so to speak, for 
ten or a dozen leagues, and encamped, having 
lost sight of the mountains. In proportion as 
we advanced, the banks of the river grew less 
steep, and the country became more agreeable. 

On the 25th, having only a little pemican left, 
which we wished to keep, we sent forward a 
hunter in the little elk-skin canoe, to kill some 



304 . peanchere's voyage. 

game. About ten o'clock, we found him waiting 
for us with two moose that he had killed. He 
had suspended the hearts from the branch of a 
tree as a signal. We landed some men to help 
him in cutting up and shipping the game. Wc 
continued to glide safely down. But toward two 
o'clock, P. M., after doubling a point, we got 
into a considerable rapid, where, by the mala- 
droitness of those who managed the double 
pirogue in which I was, we met with a melan- 
choly accident. I had proposed to go ashore, in 
order to lighten the canoes, which were loaded 
to the water's edge ; but the steersman insisted 
that we could go down safe, while the bow-man 
was turning the head of the pirogue toward 
the beach ; by this manceuTrc we were brought 
athwart the stream, which was carrying us fast 
toward the falls ; just then our frail bark struck 
upon a sunken rock ; the lower canoe broke 
amid-ships and filled instantly, and tlie upper 
one being lighted, rolled over, precipitating us 
all into the water. Two of our men, Olivier Roy 
Lapensee and Andre Belanger, were drowned; 



SAD ACCIDENT. 305 

and it was not without extreme difficulty that 
we succeeded in saving Messrs. Pillet and Wal- 
lace, as well as a man named J. Hurteaii. The 
latter was so far gone that we were obliged to 
have recourse to the usual means for the resusci- 
tation of drowned persons. The men lost Sfcll 
their effects ; the others recovered but a part of 
theirs ; and all our provisions went. Toward 
evening, in ascending the river (for I had gone 
about two miles below, to recover the effects 
floating down), we found the body of Lapensee. 
We interred it as decently as we could, and 
planted at his grave a cross, on which I inscribed 
with the point of my knife, his name and the 
manner and date of his death. Bclanger's Ijody 
was not found. If anything could console the 
shades of the departed for a premature and un- 
fortunate end, it would be, no doubt, that the 
funeral rites have been paid to their remains, 
and that they themselves have given their names 
to the places where they perished : it is thus that 
the shade of Palinurus rejoiced in the regions 
below, at learning from the mouth of the Sibyl, 



306 . franchere's voyage. 

that tlie promontoiy near which he was drowned 
would henceforth be called by his name : gaudet 
cog-nomine terra. The rapid and the point of 
land where the accident I have described took 
place, will bear, and bears already, probably, the 
name of Lapensee* 

On the 2Gth, a part of our people embarked in 
the three canoes which remained, and the others 
followed the banks of the river on foot. We 
saw in several i^laces some veins of bituminous 
coal, on the banks between the surface of the 
water and that of the plain, say thirty feet below 
the latter ; the veins had a dip of about 25°. 
We tried some and found it to burn well. We 
halted in the evening near a small stream, where 
we constructed some rafts, to carry all our peo- 
ple. 

On the 27th, I went forward in the little canoe 

* Mr. Franchere, not having the fear of the Abbe Gaxime be- 
fore his eyes, so wrote in his Journal of 1814; finding consola- 
tion in a thought savoring, we confess, more of Virgil than of the 
catechism. It is a classic term that calls to our mind rough Cap- 
tain Thorn's sailor-like contempt for his literary passengers so 
comically described hy Mr. Irvine^. Half of the humor as well 
as of the real interest of Mr. Franchere's charming narrative, is 
lost by one who has never read " Astoria." 



A EENCONTRE. 307 

of skins, with the two hunters. We soon killed 
an elk, which we skinned and suspended the 
hide, besmeared with blood, from the branch of 
a tree at the extremity of a point, in order that 
the people behind, as they came up, might per- 
ceive and take in the fruit of our chase. After 
fortifying ourselves with a little food, we contin- 
ued to glide down, and encamped for the night 
near a thick wood where our hunters, from the 
tracks they observed, had hopes of encountering 
and capturing some bears. This hope was not 
realized. 

On the 28th, a little after quitting camp, we 
killed a swan. While I was busy cooking it, the 
hunters having plunged into the wood, I heard a 
rifle-shot, which seemed to me to proceed from a 
direction opposite to that which they had taken. 
They returned very soon running, and were ex- 
tremely surprised to learn that it was not I who 
had fired it. Nevertheless, the canoes and rafts 
having overtaken us, we continued to descend 
the river. Yery soon we met a bark canoe, con- 
taining two men and a woman, who were ascend- 



308 peanchere's voyage. 

ing the river and bringing letters and some goods 
for the Rocky Mountains House. We learned 
from these letters addressed to Mr. Decoigne, 
several circumstances of the war, and among 
others the defeat of Captain Barclay on Lake 
Erie. We arrived that evening at Hunter^s 
Lodg-e, where we found four new birch-bark 
canoes. We got ready two of them, and resumed 
our journey down, on the 31st. Mr. Fillet set 
out before us with the hunters, at a very early 
hour. They killed an elk, which they left on a 
point, and which we took in. The country 
through which we passed that day is the most 
charming possible ; the river is wide, handsome, 
and bordered with low outjutting points, covered 
with birch and poplar. 

On the 1st of June, in the evening, we en- 
camped at the confluence of the river Pembina. 
This stream comes from the south, and takes its 
rise in one of the spurs of the great chain of the 
Eocky mountains ; ascending it for two days, 
and crossing a neck of land about seventy-five 
miles, one reaches Fort Augustus, a trading post 



LITTLE BED ELK RIVER. 309 

on the Saskatchawine river. Messrs. McDonald 
and M'Kenzie had taken this route, and had left 
for us half a sack of pemican in a cache, at the 
mouth of the river Pembina. After landing that 
evening, Mr. Stuart and I amused ourselves with 
angling, but took only five or six small fish. 

On the 2d, we passed the confluence of Little 
Slave Lake river. At eight o'clock in the morn- 
ing, we met a band or family of Indians, of the 
Knisteneaux tribe. They had just killed a buf- 
falo, which we bought of them for a small brass- 
kettle. We could not have had a more season- 
able rencontre, for our provisions were all con- 
sumed. 

On the 3d, we reached Little Red Elk river, 
which we began to ascend, quitting the Athor- 
basca, or Great Red Elk. This stream was 
very narrow in its channel, and obstructed 
with boulders : we were obliged to take to the 
shore, while some of the men dragged along the 
canoes. Their method was to lash poles across, 
and wading themselves, lift the canoes over the 
rocks — a laborious and infinitely tedious opera- 



310 franchere's voyage. 

tion. The march along the banks was not less 
disagreeable : for we had to traverse points of 
forest where the fire had passed, and which were 
filled with fallen trees. 

Wallace and I ha"\dng stopped to quench our 
thirst at a rill, the rest got in advance of us ; and 
we lost our way in a labyrinth of bufi'alo tracks 
which we mistook for the trail, so that we wan- 
dered about for three hours before we came up 
with the party, who began to fear for our safety, 
and were firing signal-guns to direct us. As the 
river now grew deeper, we all embarked in the 
canoes, and about evening overtook our hunters, 
who had killed a moose and her two calves. 

We continued our journey on the 4th, some- 
times seated in our canoes, sometimes marching 
along the river on foot, and encamped in the 
evening, excessively fatigued. 



ANTOINE DEJAELAIS. 311 



CHAPTER XXY. 

Red Deer Lake. — Antoine D6jarlais. — Beaver River. — N. Na- 
deau. — Moose River. — Bridge Lake. — Saskatchawine River. 
— Fort Vermilion. — Mr. Hallet. — Trading-Houses. — Beautiful 
Country. — Reflections. 

The 5th of June brought us to the beautiful 
sheet of water called Red Deer lake, irregular 
in shape, dotted with islands, and about forty 
miles in length by thirty in its greatest width. 
"We met, about the middle of it, a small canoe 
conducted by two young women. They were 
searching for gulls' and ducks' eggs on the 
islands, this being the season of laying for 
those aquatics. They told us that their father 
was not far distant from the place where we met 
them. In fact, we presently saw him appear in 
a canoe with his two boys, rounding a little isle. 
We joined him, and learned that his name was 



312 francheee's voyage. 

Antoine Dejarlais ; that he had been a guide in 
the service of the Northwest Company, but had 
left them since 1805. On being made acquainted 
with our need of provisions, he offered us a great 
quantity of eggs, and made one of our men em- 
bai-k with his two daughters in their little canoe, 
to seek some more substantial supplies at his 
cabin, on the other side of the lake. He him- 
self accompanied us as far as a portage of about 
twenty-five yards formed at the outlet of the 
lake by a Beaver dam. Having performed the 
portage, and passed a small pond or marsh, we 
encamped to await the return of our man. He 
arrived the next morning, with Dejarlais, bring- 
ing us about fifty pounds of dried venison and 
from ten to twelve pounds of tallow. We invited 
our host to breakfast with us : it was the least 
we could do after the good ofl&ces he had ren- 
dered us. This man was married to an Indian 
woman, and lived with his family, on the prod- 
uce of his chase ; he appeared quite contented 
with his lot. Nobody at least disputed with him 
the sovereignty of Red Deer lake, of which he 



TOILSOME PROGRESS. 313 

had, as it were, taken possession. He begged 
me to read for him two letters which he had had 
in his possession for two years, and of which he 
did not yet know the contents. They were from 
one of his sisters, and dated at Vercheres, in 
Canada. I even thought that I recognised the 
handwriting of Mr. L. G-. Labadie, teacher of 
that parish. At last, having testified to this 
good man, in suitable terms, our gratitude for the 
services he had rendered us, we quitted him and 
prosecuted our journey. 

After making two portages, we arrived on the 
banks of Beaver river, which was here but a riv- 
ulet. It is by this route that the canoes ordi- 
narily pass to reach Little Slave lake and the 
Athabasca country, from the head of Lake Supe- 
rior, via., Cumberland House, on English river. 
We were obliged by the shallowness of the 
stream, to drag along our canoes, walking on a 
bottom or beach of sand, where we began to feel 
the importunity of the mosquitoes. One of the 
hunters scoured the woods for game but without 

success. By-and-by we passed a small canoe 
14 



314 feanchere's voyage. 

turned bottom up and covered with a blanket. 
Soon after we came to a cabin or lodge, where 
we found an old Canadian hunter named Nadeau. 
He was reduced to the last stage of weakness, 
having had nothing to eat for two days. Never- 
theless, a young man who was married to one of 
his daugliters, came in shortly after, with the 
good news that he had just killed a buffalo ; a 
circumstance which determined us to encamp 
there for the night. We sent some of our men 
to get in the meat. Nadeau gave us half of it, 
and told us that we should find, thirty miles low- 
er down, at the foot of a pine tree, a cache, 
where he had deposited ten swan-skins, and 
some of martin, with a net, which he prayed us 
to take to the next trading-post. "We quitted 
this good fellow the next morning, and pursued 
our way. Arriving at the place indicated, we 
found the cache, and took the net, leaving the 
other articles. A short distance further, we 
came to Moose river, which we had to ascend, in 
order to reach the lake of that name. The 
water in this river was so low that we were 



LOSING OUR WAY. 315 

obliged entirely to unload the canoes, and to 
lash poles across them, as we had done before, 
that the men might carry them on their shoulders 
over the places where they could not be floated. 
Having distributed the baggage to the remainder 
of the hands, we pursued our way through the 
woods, under the guidance of Mr. Decoigne. 

This gentleman, who had not passed here for 
nineteen years, soon lost his way, and we got 
separated into small parties, in the course of the 
afternoon, some going one way, and some another, 
in search of Moose lake. But as we had out- 
stripped the men who carried the baggage and 
the small stock of provision that old Nadeau had 
given us, Mr. "Wallace and I thought it prudent 
to retrace our steps and keep with the rear-guard. 
We soon met Mr. Pillet and one of the hunters. 
The latter, ferreting the woods on both sides of 
a trail that he had discovered, soon gave a whoop, 
to signify that we should stop. Presently emer- 
ging from the underwood, he showed us a horse- 
whip which he had found, and from which and 
from other uumistakeable signs, he was confident 



316 franchere's voyage. 

the trail would lead either to the lake or a navi- 
gable part of the river. The men with the bag- 
gage then coming up, we entered the thicket 
single file, and were conducted by this path, in 
a very short time, to the river, on the banks of 
which were visible the traces of an old camping 
ground. The night was coming on ; and soon 
after, the canoes arrived, to our great satisfaction ; 
for we had begun to fear that they had already 
passed. The splashing of their paddles was a 
welcome sound, and we who had been wise 
enough to keep behind, all encamped together. 

Yery early on the 8th, I set out accompanied 
by one of the hunters, in quest of Messrs. D. 
Stuart, Clarke and Decoigne, who had gone on 
ahead, the night previous. I soon found MM. 
Clarke and M'Gillis encamped on the shore of 
the lake. The canoes presently arrived and we 
embarked ; MM. Stuart and Decoigne rejoined 
us shortly after, and informed us that they had 
bivouacked on the shore of Lac Piiant, or Stink- 
ing lake, a pond situated about twelve miles 
E. N. E. from the lake we were now entering. 



LONG LAKE. 317 

Finding ourselves thus reunited, we traversed 
the latter, which is about eighteen miles in cir- 
cuit, aad has very pretty shores. We encamped, 
very early, on an island, in order to use old 
Nadeau's fishing net. I \'isited it that evening 
and brought back three carp and two water-hens. 
We left it set all night, and the next morning 
found in it twenty white-fish. Leaving camp at 
an early hour, we gained the entrance of a small 
stream that descends between some hills of mod- 
erate elevation, and there stopped to breakfast. 
I found the white-fish more delicious in flavor, 
even than the salmon. We had again to foot it, 
following the bank of this little stream. It was 
a painful task, as we were obliged to open a 
path through thick underbrush, in the midst of a 
rain that lasted all day and kept us drenched. 
Two men being left in each canoe, conveyed them 
up the river about thirty miles, as far as Long 
lake — a narrow pond, on the margin of which 
we spent the night. 

On the 10th, we got through this lakelet, and 
entered another small stream, which it was ne- 



318 franchere's voyage. 

cessaiy to na^^g•ate in the same manner as the 
preceding, and which conducted us to Bridge 
lake. The latter received its name from a sort 
of bridge or causeway, formed at its southern 
extremitj, and which is nothing more than a 
huge beaver dam. We found here a lodge, 
where were a young man and two women, who 
had charge of some horses appertaining to one 
of the Hudson's Bay trading houses. We bor- 
rowed of them half a dozen pack horses, and 
crossed the bridge with them. After surmount- 
ing a considerable hill, we reached an open, level, 
and dry prairie, wliich conducted us in about two 
hours to an ancient trading-post on the banks of 
the Saskatchaivine. Knowing that we were 
near a factory, we made our toilets as well as 
we could, before arriving. Toward smidown, 
we reached Fort Vermilion, which is situated 
on the bank^ of a river, at the foot of a superb 
hill. 

We found at this post some ninety persons, 
men, women, and children ; these people depend 
for subsistence on the chase, and fishing with 



ODP MISCALCULATION, 819 

hooks and lines, whicli is very precarious. Mr. 
Hallet, the clerk in charge was absent, and we 
were dismayed to hear that there were no pro- 
visions on the place : a very disagreeable piece 
of news for people famished as we were. "We 
had been led to suppose that if we could only 
reach the plains of the Saskatchawine, we should 
be in the land of plenty. Mr. Hallet, however, 
■was not long in arriving : he had two quarters 
of buffalo meat brought out, which had been laid 
in ice, and prepared us supper, Mr. Hallet was 
a polite sociable man, loving his ease passably 
well, and desirous of living in these wild coun- 
tries, as people do in civilized lands. Having 
testified to him our surprise at seeing in one of 
the buildings a large cariole, like those of Cana- 
da, he informed us that having horses, he had 
had this carriage made in order to enjoy a sleigh- 
ride ; but that the workmen having forgot to 
take the measure of the doors of the building be- 
fore constructing it, it was found when finished, 
much too large for them, and could never be got 
out of the room where it was ; and it was like to 



320 franchere's voyage. 

remain there a long time, as he was not disposed 
to demolish the house for the pleasure of using 
the cariole. 

By the side of the factory of the Northwest 
Company, is another belonging to the Company 
of Hudson's Bay. In general these trading- 
houses are constructed thus, one close to the 
other, and surroimded with a common palisade, 
with a door of communication in the interior for 
mutual succor, in case of attack on the part of 
the Indians. The latter, in this region, particu- 
larly the Black-feet, Gros-ventres, and those of 
the Yellow river, are very ferocious : they live 
by the chase, but bring few furs to the traders ; 
and the latter maintain these posts principally to 
procure themselves provisions. 

On the lltli, after breakfasting at Fort Ver- 
milion, we resumed our journey, with six or 
seven pounds of tallow for our whole stock of 
food. This slender supply brought us through 
to the evening of the third day, when we had for 
supper two ounces of tallow each. 

On tlie 14th, in the morning, we killed a wild 



BUFFALO. 321 

goose, and toward midday, collected some flag- 
root and choux-g-ras, a wild herb, which we 
boiled with the small game : we did not forget 
to throw into the jDot the little tallow we had 
left, and made a delicious repast. Toward the 
decline of day, we had the good luck to kill a 
buffalo. 

On the 15th, MM. Clarke and Decoig-ne hav- 
ing landed during our course, to hunt, returned 
presently with the agreeable intelligence that 
they had killed three buffaloes. We immediate- 
ly encamped, and sent the greater part of the 
men to cut up the meat and jerk it. This opera- 
tion lasted till the next evening, and we set for- 
ward again in the canoes on the 17th, with about 
six hundred pounds of meat half cured. The 
same evening we perceived from our camp sev- 
eral herds of buffaloes, but did not give chase, 
thinking we had enough meat to take us to the 
next post. 

The river Saskatchawine ~ flows over a bed 

composed of sand and marl, which contributes 

not a little to diminish the purity and transpa- 
14* 



S22 pranchere's voyage. 

rency of its waters, which, like those of the Mis- 
souri, are turbid and whitish. Except for that 
it is one of the prettiest rivers in the world. The 
banks are perfectly charming, and offer in many 
places a scene the fairest, the most smiling, and 
the best diversified that can be seen or imagined : 
hills in varied forms, crowned with superb 
groves ; valleys agreeably embrowned, at even- 
ing and morning, by the prolonged shadow of 
the hills, and of the woods which adorn them ; 
herds of light-limbed antelopes, and heavy colos- 
sal buffalo — the former bounding along the 
slopes of the hills, the latter trampling under 
their heavy feet the verdure of the plains ; all 
these champaign beauties reflected and doubled as 
it were, by the waters of the river ; the melodi- 
ous and varied song of a thousand birds, perched 
on the tree-tops ; the refreshing breath of the 
zephyrs ; the serenity of the sky ; the purity and 
salubrity of the air ; all, in a word, pours con- 
tentment and joy into the soul of the enchanted 
spectator. It is above all in the morning, when 
the sun is rising, and in the evening when he is 



author's reflections. 828 

setting, that the spectacle is really ravishing. I 
could not detach my regards from that superb 
picture, till the nascent obscurity had obliterated 
its perfection. Then, to the sweet pleasure that 
I had tasted, succeeded a triste, not to say, a 
Bombre, melancholy. How comes it to pass, I 
Baid to myself, that so beautiful a country is not 
inhabited by human creatures ? The songs, the 
hymns, the prayers, of the laborer and the arti- 
san, shall they never be heard in these fine 
plains ? Wherefore, while in Europe, and above 
all in England, so many thousands of men do not 
possess as their own an inch of ground, and cul- 
tivate the soil of their country for proprietors 
who scarcely leave them whereon to support ex- 
istence; — wherefore — do so many millions of 
acres of apparently fat and fertile land, remain 
uncultivated and absolutely useless ? Or, at 
least, why do they support only herds of wild 
animals ? Will men always love better to vege- 
tate all their lives on an ungrateful soil, than to 
seek afar fertile regions, in order to pass in 
peace and plenty, at least the last portion of 



32-1 feanchere's voyage. 

their days ? But I deceive myself ; it is not so 
easy as one thinks, for the poor man to better his 
condition : he has not the means of transporting 
himself to distant countries, or he has not those 
of acquiring a property there ; for these untilled 
lands, deserted, abandoned, do not appertain to 
whoever wishes to establish himself upon them 
and reduce them to culture ; they have owners, 
and from these must be purchased the right of 
rendering them productive ! Besides one ought 
not to give way to illusions : these countries, at 
times so delightful, do not enjoy a perpetual 
spring ; they have their winter, and a rigorous 
one ; a piercing cold is then spread through the 
atmosphere ; deep snows cover the surface ; the 
frozen rivers flow only for the fish ; the trees are 
stripped of their leaves and hung with icicles ; 
the verdure of the plains has disappeared ; the 
hills and valleys offer but a uniform whiteness ; 
Nature has lost all her beauty ; and man has 
enough to do, to shelter himself from the injuries 
of the inclement season. 



FORT MONTEE. 325 



CHAPTER XXYL 

Fort Mont^e. — Cumberland House. — Lake Bourbon. — Great 
Winipeg Rapids. — Lake Winipeg. — Trading-House. — Lake 
of the Woods. — Rainy Lake House, &c. 

On the 18th of June (a day which its next an- 
niversary was to render for ever celebrated in 
the annals of the world), we re-embarked at 
an early hour : and the wind rising, spread sail, 
a thing we had not done before, since we quitted 
the river Columbia. In the afternoon the clouds 
gathered thick and black, and we had a gust, 
accompanied with hail, but of short duration; the 
weather cleared up again, and about sundown we 
arrived at Le Fort de la Montee, so called, on 
account of its being a depot, where the traders 
going south, leave their canoes and take pack- 
horses to reach their several posts. We found 
here, as at Fort Yermilion, two trading-houses 



326 pranchere's voyage. 

joined together, to make common cause against 
the Indians ; one belonging to the Hudson's Bay 
Company, the other to the company of the North- 
west : the Hudson's Bay house being then under 
the charge of a Mr. Prudent, and the N. "W. 
Company's under a Mr. John M'Lean. Mr. do 
Eoche Blave, one of the partners of the last com- 
pany having the superintendence of this district, 
where he had wintered, had gone to Lake Supe- 
rior to attend the annual meeting of the partners. 
There were cultivated fields around the house ; 
the barley and peas appeared to promise an 
abundant harvest. Mr. M'Lean received us as 
well as circumstances permitted ; but that gen- 
tleman having.no food to give us, and our buffalo 
meat beginning to spoil, we set off the next 
morning, to reach Cumberland house as quick as 
possible. In the course of the day, we passed 
two old forts, one of which had been biiilt by the 
French before the conquest of Canada. Accord- 
ing to our guide, it was the most distant western 
post that the French traders ever had in tho 
northwestern wilderness. Toward evening we 



FORT CUMBERLAND. 327 

shot a moose. The aspect of the country changes 
considerably smce leaving Montee ; the banks of 
the river rise more boldly, and the country is 
covered with forests. 

On the 20th, we saw some elms — a tree that 
I had not seen hitherto, since my departure from 
Canada. We reached Fort Cumberland a little 
before the setting of the sun. This post, called 
in English Cumberland House, is situated at the 
outlet of the Saskatckawine, where it empties 
into English lake, between the 53d and 54th 
degrees of north latitude. It is a depot for those 
traders who are going to Slave lake or the Atha- 
basca, or are returning thence, as well as for 
those destined for the Rocky mountains. It was 
under the orders of Mr. J. D. Campbell, who 
having gone down to Fort William, however, had 
left it in charge of a Mr. Harrison. There are 
two factories, as at Vermilion and la Montee. 
At this place the traders who resort every year 
to Fort William, leave their half-breed or Indian 
wives and families, as they can live here at little 
expense, the lake abounding in fish. Messrs. 



328 francheee's voyage. 

Clarke and Stuart, who were behind, arrived on 
the 22d, and in the evening we had a dance. 
They gave us four sacs of pemican, and we set 
off again, on the 23d, at eight A. M. We cros- 
sed the lake, and entered a small river, and hav- 
ing made some eighty or ninety miles under sail, 
encamped on a low shore, where the mosquitoes 
tormented us horribly all night. 

On the 24th, we passed Muddy lake, and en- 
tered Lake Bourbon, where we fell in with a 
canoe from York factory, under the command of 
a Mr. Kennedy, clerk of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. We collected some dozens of gulls' eggs, 
on the rocky islands of the lake : and stopping 
on one of the last at night, having a little flour 
left, Mr. Decoigne and I amused ourselves in 
making fritters for the next day's breakfast : .an 
occupation, which despite the small amount of 
materials, employed us till we were surprised by 
the daybreak ; the night being but brief at this 
season in that high latitude. 

At sunrise on the 25 th, we were again afloat, 
passed Lake Travers, or Cross lake, which 



THE KING OF THE LAKE. 329 

empties into Lake "Winipeg by a succession of 
rapids ; shot down these cascades without acci- 
dent, and arrived, toward noon, at the great 
rapid Ouenipic or Winipeg, which is about four 
miles long. We disembarked here, and the men 
worked down the canoes. At the foot of this 
rapid, which is the inlet of Winipeg, we found an 
old Canadian fisherman, who called himself Xing' 
of the lake. He might fairly style himself Idng 
of the fish, which are abundant and which he 
alone enjoyed. Having made a boil, and regaled 
ourselves with excellent sturgeon, we left this 
old man, and entered the great lake Winipeg, 
which appeared to me like a sea of fresh water. 
This lake is now too well known to need a par- 
ticular description: I will content myself with 
saying that it visibly yields in extent only to 
Lake Superior and Great Slave lake : it has for 
tributaries several large rivers, and among others 
the Saskatchawine, the Winipeg, in the east; and 
Red river in the south ; and empties into Hud- 
sou's bay by the Nelson, N. N. E., and the Sev- 
ern.) E. N. E. The shores which it bathes are 



330 franchere's voyage. 

generally very low ; it appears to have little 
depth, and is dotted with avast number of islands, 
lying pretty close to land. We reached one 
called Egg- island, whence it was necessary to 
cross to the south to reach the main ; but the 
wind was so violent that it was only at decline 
of day that we could perform the passage. "Wo 
profited by the calm, to coast along all day and 
a part of the niglit of the 26th ; but to pay for it, 
remained in camp on the 27th, till evening : the 
wind not suffering us to proceed. The wind 
having appeared to abate somewhat after sunset, 
we embarked, but were soon forced to land again. 
On the 28th, we passed the openings of several 
deep bays, and the isles of St. Martin, and 
camped at the bottom of a little bay, where the 
mosquitoes did not suffer us to close our eyes all 
night. We were rejoiced when dawn appeared, 
and were eager to embark, to free ourselves from 
these inconvenient guests. A calm permitted us 
that day to make good progress with our oars, 
and we camped at Buffalo Strait. We saw that 
day two Indian wigwams. 



BAS DE LA RIVIERE. 331 

The SOtli brought ns to Winipeg river, which 
we began to ascend, and about noon reached 
Fort Bas de la Riviere. This trading post had 
more the air of a large and well-cultivated farm, 
than of a fur traders' factory : a neat and ele- 
gant mansion, built on a slight eminence, and 
surrounded with barns, stables, storehouses, &c,, 
and by fields of barley, peas, oats, and potatoes, 
reminded us of the civilized countries which we 
had left so long ago. Messrs. Crebassa and 
Kennedy, who had this post in charge, received 
us with all possible hospitality, and supplied us 
with all the political news which had been learned 
through the arrival of canoes from Canada. 

They also informed us that Messrs M'Donald 
and de Rocheblave had passed, a few days be- 
fore our arrival, having been obliged to go up 
Red river to stop the effusion of blood, which 
would probably have taken place but for their 
intervention, in the colony founded on that river 
by the earl of Selkirk. Mr. Miles M'Donnell, 
the governor of that colony, or rather of the 
Assiniboyne district, had issued a proclamation 



332 franchere's voyage. 

forbidding all persons whomsoever, to send pro- 
visions of any kind out of the district. The 
Hudson's Bay traders had conformed to this 
proclamation, but those of the Northwest Com- 
pany paid no attention to it, thinking it illegal, 
and had sent their servants, as usual to get pro- 
visions up the river. Mr. M'Donnell having 
heard that several hundred sacks of pemican* 
were laid up in a storehouse under the care of a 
Mr. Pritchard, sent to require their surrender : 
Pritchard refused to deliver them, whereupon 
Mr. M'Donnell had them carried off by force. 
The traders who winter on Little Slave lake, 
English river, the Athabasca country, &c., learn- 
ing this, and being aware that they would not 

* Pemican, of which I have ah'cafly spoken several times, is 
the Indian name for the dried and pounded meat which the na- 
tives sell to the traders. About fifty pounds of this meat is 
placed in a trough (vn grand vaisseau fait d'jtn tronc d'arbre), 
and about an equal quantity of tallow is melted and poured over 
it; it is thoroughly mixed into one mass, and when cold, is put 
up in bags made of undressed buffalo hide, with the hair outside, 
and sewed up as tightly as possible. The meat thus impregnated 
with tallow, hardens, and will keep for years. It is eaten with- 
out any other preparation ; but sometimes wild pears or dried 
beiries are added, which render the flavor more agreeable. 



THEEATENED CONFLICT. 333 

find their usual supply at Bas de la Riviere, re- 
solved to go and recover the seized provisions by 
force, if they were not peaceably given up. 
Things were in this position when Messrs. de 
Rocheblave and McDonald arrived. They found 
the Canadian voyageurs in arms, and ready to 
give battle to th(y colonists, who persisted in their 
refusal to surrender the bags of pemican. The 
two peacemakers visited the governor, and hav- 
ing explained to him the situation in which the 
traders of the Northwest Company would find 
themselves, by the want of necessary provisions 
to enable them to transport their peltries to Fort 
"William, and the exasperation of their men, who 
saw no other alternative for them, but to get pos- 
session of those provisions or to perish of hunger, 
requested him to surrender the same without 
delay. Mr. M'Donnell, on his part, pointed out 
the misery to which the colonists would be re- 
duced by a failure in the supply of food. In 
consequence of these mutual representations, it 
was agreed that one half of the pemican should 
be restoi-ed, and the other half remain for the 



334 franchere's voyage. 

use of the colonists. Thus was arranged, with- 
out bloodshed, the first difficulty which occurred 
between the rival companies of the Northwest, 
and of Hudson's Bay. 

Having spent the 1st of July in repairing our 
canoes, we re-embarked on the 2d, and continued 
to ascend Winipeg river, called ^Iso White river, 
on account of the great number of its cascades, 
which being very near each other, offer to the 
sight an almost continuous foam. We made that 
day twenty-seven portages, all very short. On 
the 3d, and 4th, we made nine more, and arrived 
on the 5th, at the Lake of the Woods. This 
lake takes its name from the great number of 
woody islands with which it is dotted. Our 
guide pointed out to me one of these isles, telling 
me that a Jesuit father had said mass there, and 
that it was the most remote spot to which those 
missionaries had ever penetrated. We encamped 
on one of the islands. The next day the wind 
did not allow us to make much progress. On 
the 7th, we gained the entrance of Rainy Lake 
river. I do not remember ever to have seen 



VOSQUITOES. 335 

elsewhere so many mosquitoes as on the banks 
of this river. Having landed near a little rapid 
to lighten the canoes, we had the misfortune, in 
getting through the brush, to dislodge these in- 
sects from under the leaves where they had taken 
refuge from the rain of the night before ; they 
attached themselves to us, followed us into the 
canoes., and tormented us all the remainder of 
the day. 

On the 8th, at sunset, we reached Rainy Lake 
House. This fort is situated about a mile from 
a considerable rapid. We saw here cultivated 
fields and domestic animals, such as horses, oxen, 
cows, &c. The port is a depot for the wintering 
parties of the Athabasca, and others still more 
remote, who bring to it their peltries and return 
from it with their outfits of merchandise. Mr. 
John Dease, to whose charge the place had been 
confided, received us in the most friendly manner 
possible ; and after having made an excellent 
supper, we danced a part of the evening. 

We took leave of Mr. Dease on the 10th, well 
provided for the journey, and passing round 



336 franchere's voyage. 

Rainy Lake falls, and then traversing the lake 
itself, which I estimated to be forty miles long, 
we encamped at the entrance of a small river. 
On the next day we pursued our way, now thrid- 
ding streams impeded with wild rice, which ren- 
dered our progress difficult, now traversing little 
lakes, now passing straits where we scarcely 
found water to float our canoes. On the 13th, 
we encamped near Dog' Portage (^Portage des 
chiens^, where, from not having followed the ad- 
vice of Mr. Dease, who had counselled us to take 
along a bag of pemican, we found ourselves ab- 
solutely without food. 



KAMINISTIQUIA FALLS. 837 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Arrival at Fori William. — Dnsriiption of the Fort. — News from 
the River Columbia. 

Starving men are early-risers. We set out 
on the 14tli before day, and effected the portage, 
which is long and difficult. At tlie foot of the 
rapid we found a sort of restaurant or cabaret, 
kept by a man named Boucher. We treated the 
men to a little eau de vie, and breakfasted on 
some detestable sausages, poisoned with salt. 

After this wretched repast, we set out again, 

and passed toward noon, the Mountain Portage. 

Here the river Kaministiquia flings itself over a 

rock of immense height, and forms a fall scarcely 

less curious to see thpai that of Niagara. Below, 

the succession of falls and rapids is constant, so 

that we made no fewer than thirty-six portages 
15 



338 franchere's voyage. 

in the course of the day. Nevertheless we pur- 
sued our laborious way with good cheer, and 
without a murmur from our Canadian boatmen, 
who kept their spirits up by singing their voya- 
g-eur songs. At last, at about nine o'clock in 
the evening, we arrived at Fort William. 

Fort "William is situated on Lake Superior, at 
the mouth of the Kaministiquia river, about 
forty-five miles north of old Grand Portage. 
It was built in 1805, when the two rival Cana- 
dian companies were united, and was named in 
honor of Mr. (now the Honorable) William 
M'Gillivray, principal agent of the Northwest 
Company. The proprietors, perceiving that the 
old fort of Grand Portage was on the territory 
claimed by the American government, resolved 
to demolish it and build another on the British 
territory. No site appeared more advantageous 
than the present for the purposes intended ; the 
river is deep, of easy access, and offers a safe 
harbor for shipping. It is true they had to con- 
tend with all the difficulties consequent on a low 
and swampy soil ; but by incredible labor and 



FORT WILLIAM. 339 

perseverance tliej succeeded in draining the 
marshes and reducing the loose and yielding soil 
to solidity. 

Port "William has really the appearance of a 
fort, "with its palisade fifteen feet high, and that 
of a pretty village, from the number of edifices it 
encloses. In the middle of a spacious square 
rises a large building elegantly constructed, 
though of wood, with a long piazza or portico, 
raised about five feet from the ground, and sur- 
mounted by a balcony, extending along the whole 
front. In the centre is a saloon or hall, sixty 
feet in length by thirty in width, decorated with 
several pieces of painting, and some portraits of 
the leading partners. It is in this hall that the 
agents, partners, clerks, interpreters, and guides, 
take their meals together, at different tables. 
At each extremity of the apartment are two 
rooms ; two of these are destined for the two 
principal agents ; the other two to the steward 
and his department. The kitchen and servants' 
rooms are in the basement. On either side of 
this edifice, is another of the same extent, but of 



340 franchere's voyage. 

less elevation ; they are each divided by a corri- 
dor running through its length, and contain each, 
a dozen pretty bed-rooms. One is destined for 
the wintering partners, the other for the clerks. 
On the east of the square is another building 
similar to the last two, and intended for the 
same use, and a warehouse where the furs are 
inspected and repacked for shipment. In the 
rear of these, are the lodging-house of the guides, 
another fur-warehouse, and finally, a powder 
magazine. The last is of stone, and has a roof 
covered with tin. At the angle is a sort of bas- 
tion, or look-out place, commanding a view of 
the lake. On the west side is seen a range of 
buildings, some of which serve for stores, and 
others for workshops ; there is one for the equip- 
ment of the men, another for the fitting out of 
the canoes, one for the retail of goods, another 
where they sell liquors, bread, pork, butter, &c., 
and where a treat is given to the travellers who 
arrive. This consists in a white loaf, half a 
pound of butter, and a gill of rum. The voija- 
geurs give this tavern the name of Cantine 



THE ESTABLISHMENT. 341 

salope. Bcliind all this is another range, where 
we find the counting-house, a fine square build- 
ing, and well-lighted ; another storehouse of 
stone, tin-roofed ; and a jail, not less necessary 
than the rest. The voyag-eurs give it the name 
oipot au heurre — the butter-tub. Beyond these 
we discover the shops of the carpenter, the coop- 
er, the tinsmith, the blacksmith, &c. ; and spa- 
cious yards and sheds for the shelter, reparation, 
and construction of canoes. Near the gate of 
the fort, which is on the south, are the quarters 
of the physician, and those of the chief clerk. 
Over the gate is a guard-house. 

As the river is deep at its entrance, the com- 
pany has had a wharf constructed, extending the 
whole length of the fort, for the discharge of the 
vessels which it keeps on Lake Superior, wheth- 
er to transport its furs from Fort William to the 
Saut Ste. Marie, or merchandise and provisions 
from Saut Ste. Marie to Fort William. The 
land behind the fort and on both sides of it, is 
cleared and under tillage. We saw barley, peas, 
and oats, which had a very fine appearance. At 



342 fkanchere's voyage. 

the end of the clearing is the burying-ground. 
There are also, on the opposite bank of the river, 
a certain number of log-houses, all inhabited by 
old Canadian voyageurs, worn out in the service 
of the company, without having enriched tliem- 
selves. Married to women of the country, and 
incumbered with large families of half-breed 
children, these men prefer to cultivate a little 
Indian corn and potatoes, and to fish, for a sub- 
sistence, rather than return to their native dis- 
tricts, to give their relatives and former acquain- 
tance certain proofs of their misconduct or their 
imprudence. 

Fort William is the grand depot of the North- 
west Company for their interior posts, and the 
general rendezvous of the partners. The agents 
from Montreal and the wintering partners assem- 
ble here every summer, to receive the returns of 
the respective outfits, prepare for the operations 
of the ensuing season, and discuss the general 
interests of their association. The greater part 
of them were assembled at the time of our arri- 
val. The wintering hands who are to return 



MANGEUR9 DE LARD. 84S 

with their employers, pass also a great part of 
the summer here ; they form a great encampment 
on the west side of the fort, outside the palisades. 
Those who engage at Montreal to go no further 
than Fort William or Rainy lake, and who do 
not winter, occupy yet another space, on the east 
side. The winterers, or hivernants, give to 
these last the name of mang-eurs de lard, or 
pork-eaters. They are also called comers-and- 
goers. One perceives an astonishing difference 
between these two camps, which are composed 
sometimes of three or four hundred men each ; 
that of the pork-caters is always dirty and dis- 
orderly, while that of the winterers is clean and 
neat. 

To clear its land and improve its property, the 
company inserts a clause in the engagement of 
all who enter its service as canoe-men, that they 
shall work for a certain number of days during 
their stay at Fort William. It is thus that it 
has cleared and drained the environs of the fort, 
and has erected so many fine buildings. But 
when a hand has once worked the stipulated 



344 franchere's voyage. 

number of days, he is for ever after exempt, even 
if he remain in the service twenty or thirty years, 
and should come down to the fort every summer. 

They received us very courteously at Fort 
William, and I perceived by the reception given 
to myself in particular, that thanks to the 
Chinook dialect of which I was sufficiently mas- 
ter, they would not have asked better than to 
give me employment, on advantageous terms. 
But I felt a great deal more eagerness to arrive 
in Montreal, than desire to return to the River 
Columbia. 

A few days after we reached Fort "William, 
Mr. Keith made his appearance there from Fort 
George, or Astoria, with the news of the arrival 
of the " Isaac Todd" in the Columbia river. 
This vessel, which was a dull sailer, had been 
kept back a long time by contrary winds in 
doubling Cape Horn, and had never been able to 
rejoin the vessels-of-war, her consorts, from which 
she was then separated. "When she reached the 
rendezvous at the island of Juan Fernandez, 
finding that the three ships-of-war had sailed, 



ISAAC TODD. 345 

tlie captain and passengers, as they werj short 
of pro-\dsions, determined to range the coast. 
Entering the harbor of Monterey* on the coast 
of California, in order to obtain provisions, they 
learned that there was an English vessel-of-war 
in distress, in the bay of San Francisco.^ They 
repaired thither accordingly, and found, to their 
great surprise, that it was the sloop Raccoon. 
This vessel, in getting out of the River Columbia, 
had touclied on the bar, with such violence, that 
a part of her false keel was carried away ; and 
she had with difficulty made San Francisco, with 
seven feet of water in the hold, although her 
crew had been constantly at the pumps. Cap- 
tain Black, finding it impossible to repair his 
ship, had decided to abandon her,' and to cross 
the continent to the Gulf of Mexico, thence to 
reach some of the British West India islands. 
However, on the arrival of the Isaac Todd, 

* A Spanish mission or presidency, in about the 36th degree of 
latitude. 

t Another Spanish presidency, in about the 38tli degree of lat- 
itude, and the first European establishment to be met with south 
of the Columbia. [These now obsolete notes are interesting as 
indicative of the period when they were written. — Ed.] 

15* 



346 franchere's voyage. 

means were found to careen the vessel and repair 
the damage. The Isaac Todd then pursued her 
voyage and entered the Columbia on the 17th of 
April, thirteen months after her departure from 
Enoiand. 



ITOME-BOUND. 347 



CHAPTEI^ XXYIII. 

Departure from Fort William. — Navigation on Lake Superior.— 
Michipicoton Bay. — Meeting a Canoe. — Batchawainon Bay. — 
Arrival at Saut Ste Marie. — Oceuirences there. — Departure. — 
Lake Huron. — French River. — Lake Nipissing. — Ottawa Riv- 
er. — Kettle Falls. — Rideau River. — Long-Saut. — Arrival in 
Montreal Conclusion. 

On the 20th of July, in the evening, Mr. D. 
Stuart notified me that he should start the next 
morning for Montreal, in a light canoe. I imme- 
diately wrote to my relatives : but the next 
morning Mr. Stuart told me that I was to be my- 
self the bearer of my letters, by embarking 
with him. I got ready my effects, and toward 
evening we quitted Fort William, with fourteen 
stout voyageurs to man our large canoe, and 
were soon floating on the bosom of the largest 
body of fresh water on the surface of the globe. 
We counted six passengers, namely, Messrs. D. 



348 franchere's voyage. 

Stuart, D. M-Kenzie, J. M'Donald, J. Clarke, 
myself, and a little girl of eight or nine years, 
who came from Kildonan, on Red river. We 
passed the first night on one of the islands in 
Thunder hcuj^ so named on account of the fre- 
quent storms, accompanied with lightning and 
thunder, which burst over it at certain seasons 
of the year. On the 22d and 23d, we continued 
to range the southern coast of Lake Superior. 
The navigation of this superb lake would be ex- 
tremely agreeable but for the thick fogs which 
reign during a part of the day, and do not permit 
a rapid progress. On the 24th, we dined at a 
small trading establishment called he Pic, where 
we had excellent fish. 

On the 26th, we crossed Michipicoton bay, 
which, at its entrance, may be nine miles wide, 
and twenty fathoms deep. As we were nearing 
the eastern point, we met a small canoe, having 
on board Captain M' Cargo, and the crew of one 
of the schooners owned by the company. Mr. 
M' Cargo informed us that he had just escaped 
from Saut Ste. Marie, whither the Americans had 



UNLUCKY OMISSION. 349 

sent a detachment of one hundred and fifty men ; 
and that having been obliged to abandon his 
schooner, he had set fire to her. In consequence 
of this news it was resolved that the canoe on 
which we were proceeding, should return to Fort 
William. I embarked, with Mr. Stuart and two 
men, in Captain M'Cargo's canoe, while he 'and 
his crew took our places. In the haste and con- 
fusion of this exchange, which was made on the 
lake, they gave us a ham, a little tea and sugar, 
and a bag containing about twenty-five pounds of 
flour, but forgot entirely a kettle, knives, forks, 
and so on, all articles which Mr. M' Cargo had 
not time to take when he left Saut Ste. Marie. 
We subsisted miserably in consequence for two 
days and a half that we continued to coast the 
lake before reaching any post. We moistened in 
the bag a little flour, and having kneaded it, 
made cakes, which we baked on flat stones by 
our camp fire. 

On the 29th, we reached Batchawainon, where 
we found some women, who prepared us food 
and received us well. It is a poor little post, 



350 franchere's voyage. 

situated at the bottom of a sandy cove, which 
oflfers nothing agreeable to the eye. Mr. Fred- 
eric Goedike, who resided here, was gone to 
see what had taken place at Saut Ste. Marie. 
He returned the next day, and told us that the 
Americans had come, with a force of one 
hundred and fifty men, under the command of 
Major Holmes ; and that after having pillaged 
that they all considered worth taking, of the 
property of the N. W. Company and that of a 
Mr. Johnston, they had set fire to the houses, 
warehouses, &c., belonging to the company and 
to that gentleman, and retired, without molesting 
any other person.* Our canoe arrived from Fort 
William in the evening, with that of Mr. M'Gil- 
livray ; and on the morrow we all repaired to 
Saut Ste. Marie, where we saw the ruins which 
the enemy had left. The houses, stores, and 
saw-mills of the company were still smoking. 

* The N. W. Company having raised a regiment composed of 
their own servants, and known as the voyagcur corps, and having 
also instigated to war, and armed, the Indian tiibes, over which 
they had influence, had brought on themselves this act of retalia- 
tion. Mr. Johnston also had engaged actively in the war against 
the United States. 



SAUT STE. MARIE. 351 

The schooner was at the foot of the rapids ; the 
Americans had run her down, but she grounded 
on a ledge of rocks, whence they could not dis- 
lodge her, and so they had l)urnt her to the 
water's edge. 

Le Saut de Ste. Marie, or as it is shortly 
called, Saut Ste. Marie, is a rapid at the outlet of 
Lake Superior, and may be five hundred or six 
hundred yards wide ; its length may be estimated 
at three quarters of a mile, and the descent of 
the water at about twenty feet. At the lower 
extremity the river widens to about a mile, and 
here there are a certain number of houses. The 
north bank belongs to Great Britain ; the south- 
ern to" the United States. It was on the Ameri- 
can side that Mr. Johnston lived. Before the 
war he was collector of the port for the American 
government. On the same side resided a Mr. 
Nolin, with his family, consisting of three half- 
breed boys and as many girls, one of whom was 
passably pretty. He was an old Indian trader, 
.and his house and furniture showed signs of his 
former prosperity. On the British side we found 



852 franchere's voyage. 

Mr. Charles Ermatinger, who had a pretty estab- 
lishment : he dwelt temporarily in a house that 
belonged to Nolin, but he was building another 
of stone, very elegant, and had just finished a 
grist mill. He thought that the last would lead 
the inhabitants to sow more grain than they did. 
These inhabitants are principally old Canadian 
boatmen, married to half-breed or Indian women. 
The fish afi"ord them subsistence during the 
greater part of the year, and provided they secure 
potatoes enough to carry them through the re- 
mainder, they are content. It is to be regretted 
that these people are not more industrious, for 
the land is very fertile. 

On the 1st of August, an express was sfent to 
Michilimackinac (Mackinaw) to inform the com- 
mandant thereof what had happened at Saiit Ste^ 
Marie. "While expecting the return of the mes- 
senger, we put ourselves in a state of defence, in 
case that by chance the Americans should make 
another irruption. The thing was not improba- 
ble, for according to some expressions which fell 
from one of their number who spoke French, 



THE ENEMY IN FORCE. 353 

their objects was to capture the furs of the 
Northwest Company, which were expected to ar- 
rive shortly from the interior. We invited some 
Indians, who were camped on Pine Point, at 
some distance from the Saut, to help us in case 
of need ; which they promised to do. Mean- 
while we had no provisions, as everything had 
been carried off by the American forces, and 
were ol^ligcd to subsist on such brook trout as 
we could take with hook and line, and on wild 
raspberries. 

On the 4th, the express returned, without hav- 
ing been able to accomplish his mission : he had 
found the island of Mackinaw so completely 
blockaded by the enemy, that it was impossible 
to reach it, without running the greatest risk of 
being made prisoner. 

On the 12th, we heard distinctly the dis- 
charges of artillery which our people were firing 
off at Michilimackinac, although tlie distance was 
nearly sixty miles. We thought it was an at- 
tempt of the enemy to retake that post, but we 
afterward learned that it was only a royal salute 



854 pranchere's voyage. 

in honor of the birthday of the prince regent. 
We learned, however, during our stay at Saut 
Ste. Marie, that the Americans had really made 
a descent upon the island, but were compelled to 
retire with a considerable loss. 

On the 19th, some of the partners arrived from 
Fort William, preceding the flotilla which was 
coming down richly laden with furs. They sent 
on Mr. Decoigne in a light canoe, with letters 
to Montreal, to order provisions to meet this 
brigade. 

On the 21st, the canoe on which I was a pas- 
senger, was sent to the mouth of French river, 
to observe the motions of the enemy. The route 
lay between a range of low islands, and a shelvy 
beach, very monotonous and dreary. We re- 
mained at the entrance of the aforesaid river till 
the 25th, when the fleet of loaded canoes, forty- 
seven in number, arrived there. The value of 
the furs which they carried could not be esti- 
mated at less than a million of dollars : an im- 
portant prize for the Americans, if they could 
have laid their hands upon it. We were tliree 



THE DANGER PAST. 355 

hundred and tliirty-five men, all "well armed ; a 
large camp was formed, with a breast-work of 
fur-packs, and we kept watch all night. The 
next morning we began to ascend French river, 
and were soon out of reach of the dreaded foe. 
French river flows from the N. E. and empties 
into Lake Huron, about one hundred and twenty 
miles from Saut Ste. Marie. We reached Lake 
Nipissing, of which it is the outlet, the same 
evening, and encamped. We crossed that lake 
on the 27th, made a number of portages, and en- 
camped again, not far from Mattawan. 

On the 28th we entered, at an early hour, the 
river Ottaiva, and encamped, in the evening, 
at the Portag-e des deux Joachims. This is a 
grand river, but obstructed by many falls and 
rapids on its way to join the St. Lawrence ; 
which caused us to make many portages, and so 
we arrived on the 31st at Kettle falls. 

The rock which here arrests the course of the 
Ottaiva, extends from shore to shore, and so 
completely cuts off the waters, that at the time we 
passed none was seen falling over, but sinking by 



356 franchere's voyage. 

subterranean channels, or fissures in the rock, it 
boiled up below, from seven or eight different 
openings, not unlike water in a huge caldron, 
whence the first explorers of the country gave it 
the name of Chaudihre or Caldron falls. Mr. 
P. Wright resided in this place, where he had a 
fine establishment and a great number of men 
employed in cultivating the land, and getting out 
lumber. 

We left the Chaudieres a little before sun- 
set, and passed very soon the confluence of the 
Rideau or Curtain river. This river, which 
casts itself into the Ottawa over a rock twenty- 
five by thirty feet high, is divided in th^ middle 
of the fall by a little island, which parts the 
waters into two white sheets, resembling a double 
curtain open in the middle and spreading out be- 
low. The coup d'ceil is really picturesque ; the 
rays of the 'setting sun, which struck the waters 
obliquely as we passed, heightened exceedingly 
their beauty, and rendered it worthy of a pencil 
more skilfid than mine. 

We voyaged till midnight, when we stopped to 



MONTREAL. 857 

let our men take a little repose. This rest was 
only for two hours. At sunrise on the 1st Sep- 
tember, we reached Long'-Saut, where, having 
procured guides, we passed that dangerous rap- 
id, and set foot on shore near the dwelling-house 
of a Mr. M'Donell, who sent us milk and fruits 
for our breakfast. Toward noon we passed the 
lake of the Two Mountains, where I began to see 
the mountain of my native isle. About two 
o'clock, we passed the rapid 3 of St. Ann.* Soon 
after we came opposite S'Mt St. Louis and the 
village of Caughnawoo-o^ passed that last rapid 
of so many, apd land^J at Montreal, a little be- 
fore sunset. 

I hastened to the paternal roof, where the 
family were not less surprised than overjoyed at 
beholding me. Not having heard of me, since I 
had sailed from New York, they had believed, in 

* " Far-famed and so well described," adds Mr. Franchere, in 
his own translation, but I prefer to leave the expression in its 
original striking simplicity, as be wrote it before he had heard of 
Moore. Eveiy reader remembers: — 

"Soon as the woods on shore grow dim. 
We'll sing at St. Ann's our parting hymn." 

Canadian Boatman'' s Song. 



358 franchere's voyage. 

accordance with the common report, that I had 
been murdered by the savages, with Mr. M'Kay 
and the crew of the Tonquin : and certainly, it 
was by the goodness of Providence that I found 
myself thus safe and sound, in the midst of my 
relations and friends, at the end of a voyage ac- 
companied by so many perils, and in which so 
many of my companions had met with an untime- 
ly death. 



CONCLUSION. 359 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Present State of the Countries visited by the Authoi-. — Correction 
of Mr. Lving's Statements respecting St. Louis. 

The last chapter closes the original French 
narrative of my travels around and across the 
continent, as publislied thirty-three years ago. 
The translation follows that narrative as exactly 
as possible, varying from it only in the correc- 
tion of a few not very important errors of fact. 
It speaks of places and persons as I spoke of 
them then. I would not willingly lose the veri- 
similitude of this natural and unadorned descrip- 
tion, in order to indulge in any new turns of style 
or more philosophical reflections. 

But since that period many changes have oc- 
curred in the scenes which I so long ago visited 
and described. Though they are well known, I 
may he pardoned for alluding to them. 



360 franchere's voyage. 

The natives of the Sandwich islands, who were 
in a state of paganism at that time, have since 
adopted a form of Christianity, have made con- 
siderable progress in imitating the civilization of 
Europe, and even, at this moment, begin to en- 
tertain the idea of annexation to the United 
States. It appears, however, that the real na- 
tives are rapidly dwindling away by the effects 
of their vices, which an exotic and ill-assimilated 
civilization has rather increased than diminished, 
and to which religion has not succeeded in ap- 
plying a remedy. 

At the mouth of the Columbia, whole tribes, 
and among them, the Clatsops, have been swept 
away by disease. Here again, licentious hab- 
its universally diffused, spread a fatal disorder 
through the whole nation, and undermining the 
constitutions of all, left them an easy prey to the 
first contagion or epidemic sickness. But mis- 
sionaries of various Christian sects have labored 
among the Indians of the Columbia also ; not to 
speak of the missions of the Catholic Church, so 
well known by the narrative of Father De Smet 



CHANGES. 361 

and others ; and nuinl^ers have been taught to 
cultivate the soil, and thus to provide against the 
famines to which they were formerly exposed 
from their dependence on the precarious re- 
sources of the chase ; while others have received, 
in the faith of Christ, the true principle of na- 
tional permanence, and a living germ of civiliza- 
tion, which may afterward be developed. 

Emigration has also carried to the Oregon the 
axe of the settler, as well as the canoe and pack 
of .the fur-trader. The fertile valleys and 
prairies of the Willamet — once the resort of the 
deer, the elk, and the antelope, are now tilled 
by the industrious husbandman. Oregon City, 
so near old " Astoria," whose first log fort I saw 
and dGScril)ed, is now an Archiepiscopal see, and 
the capital of a territory, which must soon be a 
state of the Union. 

Of the regions east of the mountains described 

in my itinerary, little can be said in respect to 

improvement : they remain in the same wild state. 

The interest of the Hudson's Bay Company, as 

an association of fur-traders, is opposed to agri- 
16 



S62 franchere's voyage. 

cultural improvements, whose operation would 
be to drive off and extinguisli the wild animals 
that furnish their commerce with its object. But 
on Lake Superior steamboats have supplanted the 
birch-bark canoe of the Indian and the fur-trader, 
and at Saut Ste. Marie, especially on the Ameri- 
can side, there is now every sign of prosperity. 
How remote and wild was the region beyond, 
through which I passed, may be estimated by the 
fact that in thirty-eight years the onward-rolling 
wave of our population has but just reached its 
confines. 

Canada, although it has not kept pace with the 
United States, has yet wonderfully advanced in 
forty years. . The valley of the Ottawa, that 
great artery of the St. Lawrence, where I thought 
it worth while to notice the residence of an en- 
terprising farmer and lumber merchant, is now a 
populous district, well cultivated, and sprinkled 
Avith villages, towns, and cities. 

The reader, in perusing my first chapter, found 
a description of the city of New York in 1810, 
and of the neighboring village of Brooklyn. It 



CONTRAST. 363 

■would be superfluous to establish a comparison 
at this day. At that time, it will be observed, 
the mere breaking out of war between America 
and England was thought to involve the sacrifice 
of an American commercial establishment on the 
Pacific, on the ground of its supplies being ne- 
cessarily cut off (it was supposed), and of the 
United States government being unable to pro- 
tect it from hostile attack. At present it suffices 
to remark that while New York, then so incon- 
siderable a port, is now perhaps the third city in 
the world, the United States also, are, undoubt- 
edly, a first-rate power, unassailable at homo, 
and formidable abroad, to the greatest nations. 

As in my preface I alluded to Mr. Irving's 
" Astoria," as reflecting, in my opinion, unjustly, 
upon the young men engaged in the first expedi- 
tion to the mouth of the Columbia, it may suffice 
here to observe, without entering into particulars, 
that my narrative, which I think answers for its 
own fidelity, clearly shows that some of them, at 
least did not want courage, activity, zeal for the 
interests of the company, while it existed, and pa- 



364 franchere's voyage. 

tient endurance of liardsliip. And althougli it 
forms no part of the narrative or my voyage, yet as 
subsequent visits to tlie West and an intimate 
knowledge of St. Louis, enable me to correct Mr. 
Irving's poetical rather than accurate description 
of that place, I may well do it here. St. Louis 
now bids fair to rival ere long the " Queen of the 
West ;" Mr. Irving describes her as a small tra- 
ding place, where trappers, half-breeds, gay, 
frivolous Canadian boatmen, <fec., &c., congrega- 
ted and revelled, with that lightness and buoy- 
ancy of spirit inherited from their French fore- 
fathers ; the indolent Creole of St. Louis caring 
for little more than the enjoyment of the present 
hour ; a motley population, half-civilized, Imlf- 
barbarous, thrown, on his canvas, into one 
general, confused (I allow highly picturesque) 
mass, without respect of persons : but it is fair 
to say, with due homage to the talent of the 
sketcher, who has verged slightly on caricature 
in the use of that humor-loving pencil admired 
by all the world, that St. Louis even then con- 
tained its noble, industrious, and I may say, 



ST. LOUIS. MEECHANTS. 365 

princely merchants ; it could boast its Chontecms, 
Soulands, Cere, Cheniers, Vallees, and La Croix, 
with other kindred spirits, whose descendants 
prove the worth of their sires by their own, and 
are now among the leading business men, as their 
fathers were the pioneers, of the flourishing St. 
Louis. 

With these remarks, which I make simply as 
an act of justice in connection with the general 
subject of the founding of " Astoria," but in 
which I mean to convey no imputation on the 
intentional fairness of the accomplished author 
to whom I have alluded, I take a respectful leave 
of my readers. 



APPENDIX.* 

In Chapter XYII. I promised the reader to 
give him an account of the fate of some of the 
persons who left Astoria before, and after its sale 
or transfer to the British. I will now redeem 
that pledge. 

Messrs. Ramsay Crooks, R. M'Lelland, and 
Robert Stuart, after enduring all sorts of fatigue, 
dangers and hair-breadth escapes with their lives 
— all which have been so graphically described 
by Washington Irving in his " Astoria," finally 
reached St. Louis and New York. 

Mr. Clapp went to the Marquesas Islands, 
where he entered into the service of his country 

* We have thought it best to give this Appendix, excepting some 
abbreviations rendered necessary to avoid repetition of wliat has 
been stated before, in Mr. Franchere's own words, particularly as 
a specimen of his own English style may be justly interesting to 
the reader. 



368 franchere's voyage. 

in the capacity of Midshipman under Commodore 
Porter — made his escape from there in company 
with Lieutenant Gamble of the Marine corps, by 
directions of the . Commodore, was captured by 
the British, landed at Buenos Ayres, and finally 
reached New York. 

D. M'Dougall, as a reward for betraying the 
trust reposed in him by Mr. Astor, was made a 
Partner of the Northwest Company, crossed the 
mountains, and died a miserable death at Bas de 
la Riviere, Winipeg. Donald M'Kenzie, his co- 
adjutor, went back to the Columbia River, where 
he amassed a considerable fortune, with which he 
retired, and lived in Chautauque County in this 
state, where he died a few years since unknown 
and neglected : — he was a very selfish man, who 
cared for no one but himself. 

It remains only to speak of Messrs. J. C. Hal- 
sey, Russell, Farnham, and Alfred Seton, who, 
it will be remembered, embarked with Mr. Hunt 
on the "Pedlar," in Feb. 1814. 

Leaving the River about the 1st of April, they 
proceeded to the Russian establishment at Sitka, 



MR. seton's advextuees. 369 

Norfolk Sound, wlioro they fell in ^dtli two or 
three more American vessels, which had come to 
trade with the natives or to avoid the British 
cruisers. While there, a sail under British colors 
appeared, and Mr. Hunt sent Mr. Seton to ascer- 
tain who she was. She turned out to be the 
"Forester," Captain Pigott, a repeating signal 
ship and letter-of-marque, sent from England in 
company of a fleet intended for the South Seas. 
On further acquaintance with the captain, Mr. 
Seton (from whom I derive these particulars) 
learneii a fact which has never before been pub- 
lished, and which will show the solicitude and 
perseverance of Mr. Astob. After despatching 
the " Lark" from New York, fearing that she 
might be intercepted by the British, he sent 
orders to his correspondent in England to pur- 
chase and fit out a British bottom, and despatch 
her to the Columbia to relieve the establishment. 
When Mr. Hunt learned this fact, he deter- 
mined to leave Mr. Halsey at Sitka, and pro- 
ceeding himself northward, landed Mr. Farnham 

on the coast of Kamskatka, to go over land with 
16* 



370 francheee's voyage. 

despatches for Mr. Astor. Mr. Farnham accom- 
plished the journey, reached Hamburg, whence 
he sailed for the West Indies, and finally arrived 
at New York, having made the entire circuit of 
the globe. 

The " Pedlar" then sailed to the southeast, 
and soon reached the coast of California, which 
she approached to get a supply of provisions. 
Nearing one of the harbors, they descried a vessel 
at anchor inside, showing American colors. 
Hauling their wind, they soon came close to the 
stranger, which, to their surprise, turned out to 
be the Spanish corvette " Santa Barbara," which 
sent boats alongside the " Pedlar," and captured 
her, and kept possession of the prize for some 
two months, during which they dropped down to 
San Bias. Here Mr. Hunt proposed to Mr. Se- 
ton to cross the continent and reach the United 
States the best way he could. Mr. Seton, accor- 
dingly, went to the Isthmus of Darien, where he 
was detained several months by sickness, but 
finally reached Carthagena, where a British fleet 
was lying in the roads, to take off the English 



SURVIVORS. 371 

merchants, who in consequence of the revolution- 
ary ipovements going on, sought shelter under 
their own flag. Here Mr. Seton, reduced to the 
last stage of destitution and squalor, boldly ai> 
plied to Captain Bentham, the commander of the 
squadron, who, finding him to be a gentleman, 
offered him every needful assistance, gave him a 
berth in his own cabin, and finally landed him 
safely on the Island of Jamaica, whence he, too, 
found his way to New York. 

Of all those engaged in the expedition there 
are now but four survivors — Ramsay Crooks, Esq. 
the late President of the American Fur Company ; 
Alfred Seton, Esq., Vice-president of the Sun 
Mutual Insurance Company ; both of New York 
city; Benjamin Fillet of Canada ; and the author, 
living also in New York. All the rest have paid 
the debt of nature, but their names arc recorded 
in the foregoing pages. 

Notwithstanding the illiberal remarks made by 
Captain Thorn on the persons who were on board 
the ill-fated Tonquin, and reproduced by Mr. 
Irving in his " Astoria" — these young men who 



872 franchere's voyage. 

were represented as " Bar keepers or Billiard 
markers, most of wliom had fled from Justice, 
&c." — I feel it a duty to say that they .were 
for the most part, of good parentage, liberal ed- 
ucation and every way were qualified to discharge 
the duties of their respective stations. The re- 
marks on the general character of the voyageurs 
employed as boat-men and Mechanics, and the 
attempt to cast ridicule on their " Braggart and 
swaggering manners" come with a bad grace 
from the author of " Astoria," when we consider 
that in that very work Mr. Irving is compelled 
to admit their indomitaljle energy, their fidelity 
to their employers, and their cheerfulness under 
the most trying circumstances in which men can 
be placed. 

With respect to Captain Thom, I must confess 
that though a stern commander and an irritable 
man, he paid the strictest attention to the health 
of his crew. His complaints of the squalid ap- 
pearance of the Canadians and mechanics who 
were on board, can be abated of their force by 
giving a description of the accommodation of 



MR, FRANCIIERE's PROTEST. 373 

these people. The Tonquin was a small ship ; 
its forecastle was destined for the crew perform- 
ing duty before the mast. The room allotted for 
the accommodation of the twenty men destined for 
the establishment, was abaft the forecastle ; a 
bulk-head had been let across, and a door led 
from the forecastle into a dark, unventilated, un- 
wholesome place, where they were all heaped 
together, without means of locomotion, and con- 
sequently deprived of that exercise of the body 
so necessary to health. Add to that, we had no 
physician on board. In view of these facts, can 
the complaints of the gallant Captain be sustained ? 
Of course Mr. Irving was ignorant of these cir- 
ciTmstanccs, as well as of many others which he 
might have known, had some one suggested to 
him to ask a few questions of persons who were 
within his reach at the time of his publication. 
I have (I need scarcely say) no personal animos- 
ity against the unfortunate Captain; he always 
treated me, individually, as well as I could ex- 
pect ; and if, in the course of my narrative, I 
have been severe on his actions, I was impelled 



374 pranchere's voyage. 

bj a sense of justice to my friends on board, as 
well as by tlie circumstance that such explana- 
tions of his general deportment were requisite to 
convey the historical truth to my readers. 

The idea of a conspiracy against him on board 
is so absurd that it really does not deserve 
notice. The threat, or rather the proposal made 
to him by Mr. M'Kay, in the following words — 
" if you say fight, fight it is" — originated in a case 
where one of the sailors had maltreated a Canadian 
lad,'who came to complain to Mr. M'Kay. The 
captain would not interpose his authority, and 
said in my presence, " Let them fight out their 
own battles ;" — it was upon that answer that Mr. 
M'Kay gave vent to the expression quoted above. 
I might go on with a long list of inaccuracies, 
more or less grave or trivial, in the beautifully 
written work of Mr. Irving, but it would be 
tedious to go through the whole of them. The 
few remarks to which I have given place above, 
will suffice to prove that the assertion made in 
the preface was not unwarranted. It is far from 
my intention to enter the lists with a man of the 



editoe's note. 375 

literary merit and reputation of Mr. Irving, but 
as a narrator of events of wMcli I was an eye- 
witness, I felt bound to tell the truth, although 
that truth might impugn the historical accuracy 
of a work which ranks as a classic in the lan- 
guage. At the same time I entirely exonerate 
Mr. Irving from any intention of prejudicing the 
minds of his readers, as he doubtless had only in 
view to support the character of his friend : that 
sentiment is worthy of a generous heart, but it 
should not be gratified, nor would he wish to 
gratify it, I am sure, at the expense of the char- 
acter of others. 

Note by the Editor. 

Perhaps even contrary to the wish' of Mr. Franchere, I have 
left the above almost word for word as he wrote it. It is a part 
of the history of the affairs related as well in Mr. Irving's Astoria 
as in the present volume, that the reclamations of one of the 
clerks on that famous and unfortunate voyage of the Tonquin, 
against the disparaging description of himself and his colleagues 
given in the former work, should be fairly recorded. At the same 
time, I can not help stating my own impression that a natural sus- 
ceptibility, roused by those slighting remarks from Captain Thorn's 
correspondence, to which Mr. Irving as an historian gives cur- 
rency, has somewhat blinded my excellent friend to the tone of 
banter, so characteristic of the chronicler of the Knickerbockers, 
in which all these particulars are given, more as traits of the char- 



376 franchere's voyage. 

acter of the stem old sea-captain, with his hearty contempt for 
land-lubbers and literary clerks, than as a dependable account of 
the persons on board his ship, some of whom might have been, 
and as we see by the present work, were, in fact, veiy meritori- 
ous characters, for whose literary turn, and faithful journalizing- 
(which seems to have especially provoked the captain's wrath), 
now at the end of more than forty years, we have so much reason 
to be thankful. Certainly Mr. Irving himself, who has drawn 
frequently on Mr. Franchere's naiTative, could not, from his 
well-known taste in such matters, be insensible to the Defoe-like 
simplicity thereof, nor to the picturesque descriptions, worthy of 
a professional pen, with which it is sprinkled. 



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" A series of personal sketches of distinguished individuals of all ages, embracing pen 
and ink portraits of near sixty persons from .Sappho down to Madame de Stael. They 
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jects and the manner of treating them." — Boston Atlas. 

" The author has painted in minute touches the characteristics of each with various 
personal details, all interesting, and all calculated to furnish to the mind's eye a complete ■ 
portraiture of the individual described." — Albany Knickerbocker. 

" The sketches are full and graphic, many authorities having evidently been consulted 
by the author in their preparation." — Boston Journal. 



M. 



THE WORKINGMAN'S WAY IN ^HE WORLD. 

Beina; the Autobiography of a .Tourneyman Printer. By Charles 
Manbt Smith, author of " Curiosities of London Life." 12mo, 
cloth, $1 00. 

" Written by a man of genius and of most extraordinary powers of descriptton." — 
Boston Traveller. 

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Boston Alias. 

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Evening Bulletin. 

•' He has evidently moved through the world with his eyes open, and having a vein 
of humor in his nature, has written one of the most readal)le books of the season," — 
Zion's Herald. 



redfield's new and popular publications. 

MA CAUL A Y'S SPEE CHES. 

Speeches by the Risht Hon. T. B. Macaulat, M. P., Author of 
" The History of Etigland." " Lays of Ancient Rome," &c., &;c. 
Tvvovols., 12mo, price $2.00. 

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•• It may be s;iid that Great Britain has produced no statesman since Burke, who hss 
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" We do not know of any living English orator, whose eloquence comes so near the 
ancient ideal — close, rapid, powerful, practical reasoning, animated by an intense earn 
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" Mr. Macaulay has lately acquired as great a reputation as an orator, as he had for- 
merly won as an essayist and historian. He takes in liis speeches the same wide and 
comprehensive grasp of his suliject that he does in his essays, and treats it in the same 
elegant style." — Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. 

" The same elaborate tinish, sparkling antithesis, full sweep and copious flow of 
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his speeches. They are so perspicuous, so brilliantly studded with ornament and illus- 
tration, and so resistless in their current, Uint they appear at the time to be the wisest 
and greatest of human compositions," — NcnoYork Evangelist. 



TRENCH ON PROVERBS. 

On the Lessons in Proverbs, by Richard Chenevix Trench, B. D., 

Professor of Divinity in Kinn;'s College, London, Author of the 
" Study of Words." 12mo, cloth, 50 cents. 

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" The BtjMo of the author is terse and vigorous — almost a model in its kind ' — Port 
(and Eclectic 



THE LION SKIN 

And iJie Lover Hunt ; by Charles de Bernard. 12mo, Si. 00. 

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--iVrt»'o?((zJ (Worcester, Mass.) jSgis. 

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'' It is refreshing to meet occasionally with a well-published story which is written for 
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KEDIIELDS NEW AND POPULAR PUBLICATIONS, 

MOORE'S LIFE OF SHERIDAN. 

Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Shendan, 
by Thomas Moore, with Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynohls. 
Two vols., 12mo, cloth, $2.00. 

" Onp of the most brilliant biographies in English literature. It ia the life of a wit 
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nd one of the most entertainintr woilts of its gifted author." — Springfield Republican. 

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ind on the whole candid and just. Sheridan was a rare and wonderlul genius, and has 
ill this work justice done to his surpassing merits."— iV. Y. Evaiigdisl. 



BARRING TON'S SKETCHES. 

Per.sonal Sketches of his own Time, by Sir Jonah Baeri.'><gton, 
Judge tf the High Court of Admiralty in Ireland, with Illustra- 
tions by Darley. " Third Edition, 12mo, cloth, $1 25. 

"A more entertaining book than this "'- not often thrown in our way. His sketcTies 
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" It portrays in life-like colors the characters and daily habits of nearly all the Eng 
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JOMINTS CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO. 

The Political and Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo 
from the French of Gen. Baron Jomini, by Lieut. S V^. Bknet 
U. S. Ordnance, with a Map, 12mo, cloth, 75 cents. 

" Of great value, both for its historical merit and its acknowledged impartiality." — 
Christian Frremnn, Boston. 

" !t has long been resarded in Europe as a work of more than ordinary merit^whila 
to military mi-n his review of the tactics and manoeuvres of the French Emperor dur- 
ing the few days which preceded his final and most disastrous defeat, is considered aa 
instructive, as it is \ntercBt\ns. ." — Artluif s Home Gazette. 

" It is a standard authority and illustrates a suliject of permanent interest. Witfe 
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general roader it possesses great value and interest." — Boston Transcript. 

" It thrtjws much light on often mooted points respecting Napoleon's military and 
political genius. The translation is one of much vigor." — Boston Commonweahh . 

"It supplies an important chapter in the most interesting and eventful period of Na 
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• !t is ably written and skilfully translated." — yankre Blade. 



THE LATEST AND BEST WOUK ON RUSSIA. 



THE KUSSIAN SHORES OF THE BLACK SEA, 
With a Voyage down the Yolga, and a Joukney 

THROUGH THE COUNTRY OF THE DoN CoSSACKS, bj 

LAURENCE OLIPHANT, author of "A Journey 
to Nepaul," with two maps and eighteen illustrations. 
12 mo, cloth, 75 cts. 

NOTICES OF THE PEESS. 

" The latest and best account of the actual state of 
Russia." — London Standard. 

" The book of a quick and honest observer. Full of 
delightful entertainment." — London Examiner. 

" A witness worth listening to on matters whereon 
good evidence is particularly difticult to obtain." — Lon- 
don, Guardian. 

" No work of similar character with the same light- 
ness of execution has conveyed an equally clear idea 
of the vast empire composed of so many disproportion- 
ate parts." — London Critic. 

" Mr. Oliphant has not only travelled where few 
European travellers have been before him, but he has 
wandered amid scenes of which everybody is anxious 
to hear. His clear and rapid descriptions set objects 
before our eyes with unpretending vividness ; and the 
notes he jots down are always worth attending to." — 
London Leader. 

IN PRESS. 

FIFTY YEARS IN BOTH HEMISPHERES, by 
Vincent Noltk. 1 vol. 12 mo, cloth. 



THE LATEST AND BEST WOBK ON TURKEY. 



A TEAE WITH THE TUKKS 

OR, 

Sketches of Travel 

. m THE EUPtOPEAIf AXD ASIATIC DOMINIONS OF THE SULTAN. 

BT 

WARINGTON W. SMYTH, M. A. 



With a Colored Ethnological Map of the Turkish Empire. 

One Vol. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents. 



" Mr. Smyth has tad rare opportunities. Few men have crossed and recrossed 
the empire in so many directions ; and many are the errors, the false reports, 
the misconceptions as to fact or motive which are here corrected by an able and 
impartial witness." — London Athenaum, February 25th, 1854. 

" Mr. Smyth's mode of travelling was well adapted to observe the character 
and condition of the people, as well as to form a judgment upon the mode of 
government, and its effects. Indeed, his object in publishing this volume was 
less to give an account of his journeyings, than to throw what light he could 
upon the Turkish empire and people. He has a pleasant, picturesque and direct 
style, and also, that knowledge of the past which is necessary to make travel 
profitable ; but he does not overlay his subjects with history." — London Sj)cc- 
tutor, February 25th, 1854. 



In Press, 

FIFTY YEARS IK BOTH HEMISPIIEPiES. 

BY VINCENT NOLTE 



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